Biomechanics in vehicle accidents for risk analysis

This article presents the aspects to be considered when analysing the risk of neck injury to vehicle occupants as a consequence of an impact. The analysis uses data acquired from illustrative experiments performed by one sensorised volunteer, who reproduces an emergency braking manoeuvre at a pre-set speed with an instrumented vehicle. The neck is especially sensitive to sudden acceleration changes, so a sudden braking is sufficient to constitute a potential risk of cervical spine injury. A review of the index formulation used in injury risk assessment is carried out with the goal of providing a new, more appropriate index using better sensorised equipment. The new index is capable of quantifying a neck injury considering the dynamics of the test vehicle and the kinematics of the occupant's head, neck and torso. The correct choice of sensors when instrumenting vehicle and occupant is discussed as important for an experimental evaluation of the proposed index. In the experiments, maximum neck acceleration of 11.16 m/s2 and maximum head displacement of 0.376 m, measured at a test speed of 30 km/h, were obtained. The numerical values shown that the value of the new index is inversely proportional to the acceleration experienced by the vehicle occupant.

Biomechanics in vehicle accidents for risk analysis Articles