Dynamic Response Corridors of the Human Thigh and Leg in Non-Midpoint Three-Point Bending

Current standards and test devices for pedestrian safety are developed using results from impact tests where inertial considerations have dominated and the vehicle pedestrian loading environment has not been properly replicated. When controlled tests have been conducted to evaluate the biofidelity of anthropometric test devices, current designs have faired poorly. The objective of the current study was to develop dynamic force-deflection and moment-deflection response corridors for the 50^th percentile adult male thigh and leg subjected to non-midpoint 3-point bending at rates characteristic of the vehicle-pedestrian loading environment. Six thigh and eight leg specimens were harvested from eight adult male human cadavers and ramped to failure in dynamic 3-point bending in the latero-medial direction. All thigh specimens and four of the leg specimens were loaded at a point located one third of the femoral/tibial length from the distal end, whereas the point of load application for the remaining four leg specimens was at one third of the tibial length from the proximal end. Following geometrical scaling of the structural responses to the size of the 50^th percentile adult male, force-deflection and moment-deflection response corridors were determined using a procedure specifically designed for developing corridors from sets of individual responses for which the independent variable is displacement. The corridors provide necessary information for development and validation of mechanical and computational tools for evaluation of countermeasures for pedestrian lower extremity protection.