Fourteen unembalmed cadavers were subjected to forty-four blunt lateral impacts at velocities of approximately 4.5, 6.7 or 9.4 m/s with a 15 cm flat pendulum weighing 23.4 kg. Chest and abdominal injuries consisted primarily of rib fractures with a few cases of lung or liver laceration in the highest severity impacts. There were two cases of pubic ramus fracture in the pelvic impacts. Logist analysis of the biomechanical responses and serious injury, indicated that the maximum viscous response had the best correlation with injury risk for chest and abdominal impacts. A tolerance level of VC=1.5 m/s for the chest and VC=2.0 m/s for the abdomen were determined for a 25% probability of serious injury. Maximum compression was similarly set at C=38% for the chest and C=44% for the abdomen. The experiments indicate that chest and abdominal injury can occur by a viscous mechanism during the rapid phase of body compression, and that the viscous response is an effective measure of injury risk in side impacts. A compression tolerance is set to assess crushing injury risks. Pubic ramus fracture correlated with compression of the pelvis not impact force or acceleration. Pelvic tolerance was set at 27% compression. (A) For the covering abstract of the conference, see IRRD 837684. This paper has also been published in Accident Analysis and Prevention, Vol 12, No 6, December 1989, p553-74 (see IRRD 826204).
Abstract