Four female post-mortem human subjects (PMHS) with varying anthropometry were tested under bilateral knee impact conditions using a pneumatically driven ram. Ten tests were performed on each PMHS, varying the velocity at impact and the coupled mass of the knee-thigh-hip (KTH) system. Test conditions included whole body (WB), removal of thigh flesh (TFR), the addition of implantable femur load cells (TFR+LC), and the removal of the torso (ToR). By removing these masses coupled to the KTH complex, individual component contributions were then analysed. Using the component masses that were obtained during autopsy and the accelerometer and force data recorded during testing, a one-dimensional subject-specific lumped-parameter model (LPM) was developed for KTH. The average force transfer predicted by the completed LPMs was 70.6±1.7% from the knee to the mid-femur and 57.0±3.0% from the knee to the hip. Finally, across all subject conditions, the percentage of force that transferred from the knee generally decreased with increasing impact velocity. Development of the LPMs provides a crucial first step in beginning to characterize female KTH injury risk in frontal collisions, to eventually translate KTH injury risk functions to female anthropomorphic test devices and human body models.
Keywords:
Female; Frontal Impacts; Knee-Thigh-Hip; Lumped-Parameter Modelling; PMHS