Search Results

This study continues previous experimental studies which review the characteristics of the side impact exposure to the human head. We conducted a series of two experiments. The first series included four sequential impacts which were performed on a single embalmed specimen. This series of impacts showed a good correspondence between peak head acceleration and HIC and confirmed the adequacy of instrument placement and data analysis. The second series studied five impacts performed on individual unembalmed cadavers. The results suggest that side impacts produced pressure gradients in the brain. These superimposed gradients were proportional to the magnitudes of the head acceleration components. The largest component was found to be in the direction of impact and produced positive pressures near the impact and negative pressures opposite the impact. We found that a pressure limiting mechanism acted on the contra-coup side of the brain.