At K.U.Leuven, experimental skull fracture analysis is performed in the framework of bicycle helmet research. This particular work describes the testing of 191 cranial bone specimens to generate data for use in finite element modelling of the head. Specimens are taken from the parietal area of the head and are beam-shaped (approximately 1cm width, 5cm length). Specimen age ranges from early post mortem (fresh) to 20-30 years post mortem (embalmed). Results show Young's moduli ranging from 1.6 to 2.5 GPa for embalmed and from 2.3 to 5.4 GPa for fresh specimens. Fresh sample tests clearly showed a viscoelastic behaviour, which is not be observed in the embalmed specimen tests. For the covering abstract see ITRD E141569.
Abstract