Measurement of Head, T ₁ , and Pelvic Response to -Gx Impact Acceleration

The systematic measurement of the inertial response of human subjects to impact acceleration has been underway for several years. The response of the head and first thoracic vertebra (T₁) has been reported for a variety of sled acceleration profiles. In order to better describe the inertial response of man, it is necessary to measure the pelvic response in addition to the response of the head and T₁.

A pelvic anatomical mount has been constructed and used on one volunteer undergoing successively higher levels of -Gx impact acceleration. The description of the use of the mount is given. The data for four runs in a maximum rate of onset and maximum duration configuration from 2 - 7 G peak acceleration, using the 12-in HyGe® accelerator are reported. Data from this subject for -Gx impact acceleration experiments have been previously reported and are compared to data from the experiments with the pelvic mount. The propogation of the acceleration profile from pelvis to T₁ to the head will be described. The use of these data for description of the complete dynamic response of man will be discussed.