Ejection injury to the spine in small aviators:​ sled tests of manikins vs. post mortem specimens

Salzar, Robert S.<sup>1</sup>; Bolton, James R.<sup>1</sup>; Crandall, Jeff R.<sup>1</sup>; Paskoff, Glenn R.<sup>2</sup>; Shender, Barry S.<sup>2</sup>

Affiliations

¹Center for Applied Biomechanics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA

²Human Systems Department, Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, MD

Abstract and keywords

Introduction: This study presents the results of seven aerospace manikin and three post mortem human surrogate (PMHS) horizontal deceleration sled tests. The objective of this study was to establish a body of baseline data that examines the ability of small (fifth percentile) manikins to predict whole-body kinematics associated with aircraft ejection, and whether currently available head and neck injury criteria are applicable in these situations.

Methods: Subjects were exposed to a short-duration local z-axis sled pulse while horizontally seated and restrained in an ejection seat. Test subjects included instrumented fifth percentile female and male manikins, and two small (163.8 cm, 48.3 kg; 143.5 cm, 48.6 kg) female and one small (166.2 cm, 54.3 kg) male PMHS.

Results: The anterior (local x-axis) translations of the PMHS heads were less than those observed in the manikin tests, but the local z-axis translations of the PMHS heads were greater than those of the manikins. Z-axis translations of the manikins' T1 were generally similar to those of the PMHS T1, but the anterior x-axis translations of T1 were greater in the PMHS. The neck injury criterion (Nij) tended to under-predict observed injury (primarily ruptures of the posterior ligaments at C4-5, T2-3), and the Beam Criterion (BC) tended to over-predict observed injury for small occupants. The USN/USAF neck injury criteria (NIC) performed best in predicting the observed injuries.

Discussion: Present manikin designs do not predict the kinematics of PMHS in ejection tests. Further refinement of existing injury criteria is required to accurately predict location and severity of ejection-induced injuries.

Keywords: ejection; aircraft; anthropometry; injury risk; post mortem human surrogates; hybrid-III

Links

DOI: 10.3357/ASEM.2472.2009

PubMed: 19601504

WoS: 000267530700006

History

Received: 2008-12

Accepted: 2009-03

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Cited By (6)

Year	Entry
2012	Parr JC, Miller ME, Bridges NR, Buhrman JR, Perry CE, Wright NL. Evaluation of the Nᵢⱼ neck injury criteria with human response data for use in future research on helmet mounted display mass properties. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 56th Annual Meeting. 2012:2070-2074.
2013	Putnam JB, Untaroiu CD. Investigation of human kinematics and risk of injury during a vertical impact using dummy and human finite element models. In: Proceedings of the 9th Ohio State University Injury Biomechanics Symposium. May 19-21, 2013; Columbus, OH.
2020	Ott K, Drewry D III, Luongo M, Andrist J, Armiger R, Titus J, Demetropoulos C. Comparison of human surrogate responses in underbody blast loading conditions. J Biomech Eng. September 2020;142(9):091010.
2017	Schmidt AL. Assessing the Injury Tolerance of the Human Spine [PhD thesis]. Duke University; 2017.
2016	Christopher JJ. Biomechanical Response of the Human Pelvis: A High-Rate Vertical Loading Pilot Study [Master's thesis]. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia; May 2016.
2023	Pietsch HA. Comparison of the Dynamic Response and Fracture Characteristics of Female and Male Lumbar Spine and Pelvis in Underbody Blast Loading [PhD thesis]. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University; December 2023.