The biofidelity of the Hybrid III and THOR dummies is based on a well-defined set of performance requirements developed for each different body areas. However the ADRIA european project has identified the pelvis-femur-knee complex as a particular body area where biofidelity data are lacking. So the aim of this present work was to study the dynamic response of the knee-femur-pelvis complex and to establish biomechanical response corridors at low impact energy level. A total of 12 single subinjury pendulum rigid impact tests were performed on the knees of 6 Post Mortem Human Subjects in a seated position with no back support. Each cadaver was instrumented with 3-D accelerometers fixed on the lower limb. Peak impact load and associated pulse duration were calculated. A cinematic analysis from high speed films supplied the human like behaviour. Response corridors were established. Though subjects were not in driving posture, no-injury cadaver responses generated in this study are fundamental biomechanical reference data for the evaluation of knee-femur-pelvis complex behaviour and provided data for the evaluation of biofidelity in mathematical models and anthropomorphic test devices.
Keywords:
Knee; Pelvis; Frontal impact; Biofidelity