M.S. Mechanical Engineering, University of Utah (2019)
B.S. Petroleum Engineering, University of Wyoming (2017)
Email: nathan.leddige@utah.edu
Lab: MEB 2210
Current Research: Fall Impact Analysis of Compliant Flooring Surfaces
Slips, Trips and Falls are a major cause of injury and in the United States there are hundreds of thousand of injuries that occur from falls each year. It is estimated that an average cost resulting from a fall that ends with an injury is roughly $14,000 through direct and indirect costs. Many toolkits and hospital staff training programs have been established to reduce falls. There is still a factor of difficulty and complexity involved in completely preventing falls as all existing fall prevention programs do not completely eliminate the problem.
The purpose of this project is to develop a simulation model that can test the impact force of a fall onto different surfaces. This could potentially be used to identify new potential flooring systems that would be able to greatly reduce the peak impact of force that occurs in a fall. The reduction of force would greatly lower the likelihood of sustaining an injury during the fall. This project is currently focusing on the use of sorbothane as an underlayment surface as it has very high shock absorbing properties.
To determine the effectiveness that each type of flooring has at reducing the peak impact forces, both Solidworks and ANSYS Workbench are used in order to develop a simulation of the fall and to gather appreciate stresses that occur. The goal of this model is to be able to accurately simulate different types of falls and falling direction for any desired flooring surface.
Research Interests: Biomechanics of Falls
Current Projects: I enjoy most things that involve me being in the mountains. I love camping, hiking, hunting, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, etc.