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The mechanisms of knee fracture were studied experimentally using cadaveric knees and analytically by computer simulation. Ten 90 degree flexed knees were impacted frontally by a 20 kg pendulum with a rigid surface, a 450 psi (3.103 MPa) crush strength and a 100 psi (0.689 MPa) crush strength aluminum honeycomb padding and a 50 psi (0.345 MPa) crush strength paper honeycomb padding at a velocity of about five m/s. During rigid surface impact, a patella fracture and a split condylar fracture were observed. The split condylar fracture was generated by the patella pushing the condyles apart, based on a finite element model using the maximum principal stress as the injury criterion. In the case of the 450 psi aluminum honeycomb padding, the split condylar fracture still occurred, but no patella fractures were observed because the honeycomb provided a more uniform distribution of patella load. No bony fractures in the knee area occurred for impacts with a 50 psi paper honeycomb padding.

Twelve unembalmed human cadavers were tested for lower abdominal injury tolerance and mechanical response. The impacts were in an anterior-to-posterior direction and the level of impact was primarily in the lower abdomen at the L3 level of the lumbar spine. The impactor mass was either 32 kg or 64 kg. The impactor face was a 25 mm diameter aluminum bar, with the long axis of the bar parallel to the width of the cadaver body. In this paper, mechanical response is presented in terms of force-time and penetration-time histories, and force vs. abdominal penetration cross-plots. Injury tolerance is described in terms of post-impact necropsy findings and AIS ratings. Based on our studies, the lower abdomen of the unembalmed human cadaver is much less stiff than is suggested by previous research, and the stiffness is velocity and mass dependent, as is suggested by the correlation coefficients presented in this paper. Force-time history and force-penetration response corridors are presented.

Facial impact experiments were conducted on eleven unembalmed human cadavers. A 32 kg or 64 kg impactor with a 25 mm diameter, rigid, cylindrical contact surface was oriented in the left-right direction relative to the face and contacted the nose at the elevation of the infraorbital margins. The impactor was propelled toward the race along an anterior-to-posterior path, with contact velocities ranging from 10 to 26 km/h. Accelerometers mounted on the impactor and the occiput provided data for analyzing the dynamics of the impacts. While the threshold for nasal bone fractures was not determined, it appears that a peak force of about 3 kN (filtered 180 Hz) is a representative threshold for more severe fracture patterns. A preliminary dynamic force vs penetration response specification for the above mode of loading is offered.