Comparison of Human Volunteer and Cadaver Head-Neck Response in Frontal Flexion

At the 30th Stapp Conference an analysis was presented of human volunteer head-neck response in omni-directional impact tests. It was shown that the relative head motion can be described by a simple two-pivot analog system.

The present study extends this analysis to post-mortem human subject (PMHS) tests conducted at the University of Heidelberg. Two test series similar to the human volunteer frontal impacts tests were carried out. One having an impact severity identical to the most severe human volunteer tests. A second series with higher exposure levels are used to verify the proposed analog system for higher impact levels. Test results including neck injury data for five PMHS tests will be given with special attention to trajectories of the head center of gravity, head rotations and head accelerations.

It is concluded that the center of gravity trajectories for the PMHS and volunteer tests are similar for both impact levels. Head rotations, however, are larger for the PMHS than for the volunteer tests. The two-pivot linkage mechanism proposed for the volunteer head-neck motions also appears to be suitable to describe the PMHS head-neck response.