Motion Analysis of Head and Neck of Human Volunteers in Low-Speed Rear Impact

저속 후방 추돌 자원자 실험을 통한 두부와 경부의 동작분석

The purpose of this research is to obtain and analyze dynamic responses from human volunteers for the development of the human-like mechanical or mathematical model for Korean males in automotive rear collisions. This paper focused on the introduction to a low-speed rear impact sled test involving Korean male subjects, and the accumulation of the motion of head and neck. A total of 50 dynamic rear impact sled tests were performed with 50 human volunteers, who are 30-50 year-old males. Each subject can be involved in only one case to prevent any injury in which he was exposed to the impulse that was equivalent to a low-speed rear-end collision of cars at 5-8 km/h for change of velocity, so called, ${\Delta}V$. All subjects were examined by an orthopedist to qualify for the test through the medical check-up of their necks and low backs prior to the test. The impact device is the pendulum type, tuned to simulate the crash pulse of a real vehicle. All motions and impulses were captured and measured by motion capture systems and pressure sensors on the seat. Dynamic responses of head and T1 were analyzed in two cases(5 km/h, 8 km/h) to compare with the results in the previous studies. After the experiments, human subjects were examined to check up any change in the post medical analysis. As a result, there was no change in MRI and no injury reported. Six subjects experienced a minor stiffness on their back for no more than 2 days and got back to normal without any medical treatment.