This study aimed to specifically study knee injuries, and to propose a methodology which could be used to prevent future knee injuries. To understand the scope of this problem, a study was designed to identify injury trends in car crashes for 1979-1995. The NASS (National Accident Sampling System) showed that 10% of all injuries were to the knee, second only to head and neck injuries. Most knee injuries resulted from knee-to-instrument panel contact. Subfracture injuries were most common, followed by gross fracture injuries. Another study aim was to develop a transformation of the cadaver contact force-area relationship to the dummy. Numerous experiments were conducted on the dummy to establish a comparison with companion experiments conducted on cadavers. Several sled tests were run, using an idealized instrument panel. Mathematical models were developed to demonstrate a theoretical scenario in which load and area could be estimated without the need for physical sled testing. The study shows that a simple measure of the knee contact load and area could be used to predict injuries in the human cadaver knee from blunt insult via dummy test data. Such data may prove useful in the design of future instrument panels to provide increased knee injury protection for car occupants.
Abstract