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The Mechanical Response and Tolerance of the Anteriorly-Tilted Human Pelvis Under Vertical Loading

  • WIAMan Biomechanics
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Abstract

Military vehicle underbody blast (UBB) is the cause of many serious injuries in theatre today; however, the effects of these chaotic events on the human body are not well understood. The purpose of this research was to replicate UBB loading conditions on the human pelvis and investigate the resulting response in a controlled laboratory setting. In addition to better understanding the response of the human pelvis to high rate vertical loading, this test series also aimed to identify high rate injury thresholds. Twenty-seven post mortem human surrogate (PMHS) component pelvis tests were completed using the University of Virginia’s (UVa) simulated blast rig under a range of loading conditions and postures. Of those tests, 17 were in the anteriorly-tilted posture and used to construct the human injury probability curve. Average seat pan (rigid) accelerations for this subset of tests ranged from 300 to 2400 g over 2 to 3 ms of positive phase duration. Post-test computed tomography (CT) scans and necropsies were performed to determine injuries and revealed a frequent occurrence of anterior and posterior injuries, resulting in unstable pelvis ring fractures. The resulting Human Injury Probability Curve (HIPC) yielded mean forces of 5529, 8516, and 12431 N as measured by mass compensated seat platen loadcells applied through the rigid seat to the bilateral ischium are associated with a 10, 25, and 50% risk for unstable pelvic ring sacrum fractures in an anteriorly-tilted pelvis (28° from vertical), respectively.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported under contract #N00024-13-D-6400, sponsored by the U.S. Army Research Lab in support of the Warrior Injury Assessment Manikin Program. The authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions of the WIAMan Engineering Office and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policy of the U. S. Government, the Department of Defense (or its branches), or the Department of the Army.

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Authors and Affiliations

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

    R. S. Salzar, E. M. Spratley, K. A. Henderson, P. C. Greenhalgh, B. J. Perry & J. A. McMahon

  2. Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, USA

    J. Z. Zhang

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  1. R. S. Salzar
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  2. E. M. Spratley
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  3. K. A. Henderson
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  4. P. C. Greenhalgh
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  7. J. A. McMahon
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Correspondence to R. S. Salzar.

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Associate Editor Stefan M. Duma oversaw the review of this article.

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Salzar, R.S., Spratley, E.M., Henderson, K.A. et al. The Mechanical Response and Tolerance of the Anteriorly-Tilted Human Pelvis Under Vertical Loading. Ann Biomed Eng 49, 2975–2989 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-020-02634-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-020-02634-6

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