Citation

Kallieris D, Rizzetti A, Mattern R, Thunnissen J, Philippens MMGM. Proc. IRCOBI 1997; 24: 89-105.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1997, International Research Council on Biomechanics of Injury)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In this study the head-neck response, the neck loads and the sustained injuries obtained from human cadaver experiments in the frontal, lateral and rear-end collisions were investigated to increase the knowledge of the traumato-mechanics of the cervical spine. The severity of these experiments, for instance sled deceleration, varies from 11 to 15 g for frontal, and 7 g for rear-end collisions; for lateral impacts, the shoulder was accelerated with 100 to 130 g through the intruded side wall of the car. It was observed, that rotational accelerations of 1000 rad/sec2 do not lead to recognizable injuries during post mortem loadings, while rotational accelerations of 2000 - 3000 rad/sec2 or bending moments of 80 - 100 Nm can lead to injuries of ligaments, intervertebral discs and compression fractures of vertebral bodies. Shear forces in frontal collisions of 1000 - 1500 N at the level of the occipital condyles cause strength of the joints in this region. The resultant acceleration at the head centre of gravity varies from 20 to 45 g.