Citation

Vaughan PE, Vogelsberg CC, Vollner JM, Fenton TW, Haut RC. J. Forensic Sci. 2016; 61(5): 1190-1197.

Affiliation

Orthopaedic Biomechanics Laboratories, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, American Society for Testing and Materials, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/1556-4029.13111

PMID

27135279

Abstract

The forensic literature suggests that when adolescents fall onto edged and pointed surfaces, depressed fractures can occur at low energy levels. This study documents impact biomechanics and fracture characteristics of infant porcine skulls dropped onto flat, curved, edged, and focal surfaces.

RESULTS showed that the energy needed for fracture initiation was nearly four times higher against a flat surface than against the other surfaces. While characteristic measures of fracture such as number and length of fractures did not vary with impact surface shape, the fracture patterns did depend on impact surface shape. While experimental impacts against the flat surface produced linear fractures initiating at sutural boundaries peripheral to the point of impact (POI), more focal impacts produced depressed fractures initiating at the POI. The study supported case-based forensic literature suggesting cranial fracture patterns depend on impact surface shape and that fracture initiation energy is lower for more focal impacts.

© 2016 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Language: en