Whole Body PMHS Response in Injurious Experimental Accelerative Loading Events

Area of Science:

• Biomechanics
• Injury Biomechanics
• Human Surrogate Testing

Background:

• Previous studies using post-mortem human surrogates (PHMS) for under-body blast (UBB) events produced limited foot/ankle and pelvis injuries.
• Assessing injuries to the pelvis and foot/ankle is critical for staged UBB testing with anthropomorphic test devices (ATDs).

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate more injurious whole-body conditions using PHMS to induce pelvis and foot/ankle fractures.
• To establish biomechanical response corridors for UBB events.

Main Methods:

• Nine PHMS were subjected to three distinct higher-velocity, shorter-duration floor and seat impact conditions.
• Two conditions utilized a 120-mm foam cushion on the seat to modify the pulse duration.
• Kinematics, forces applied to the feet and pelvis, and forces applied to seat foam were recorded.

Main Results:

• Five of nine PHMS tests resulted in pelvic ring fractures.
• Five PHMS tests resulted in eight foot/ankle fractures (two unilateral, three bilateral).
• One PHMS test resulted in a femur fracture.

Conclusions:

• The study generated biomechanical response corridors for kinematics and forces during simulated UBB events.
• These corridors and injury data aid in evaluating the performance of ATDs and computational models in UBB simulations.
• Higher impact velocities and shorter durations are effective in producing pelvis and foot/ankle injuries in PHMS.