MEANINGFUL CONCEPTS OF HEAD INJURY CRITERIA. PROCEEDINGS OF THE 1989 INTERNATIONAL IRCOBI CONFERENCE ON THE BIOMECHANICS OF IMPACTS, HELD IN STOCKHOLM, 13-15 SEPTEMBER 1989

Current head injury tolerance parameters or criteria used for regulation involve linear acceleration levels or their histories for the entire cranium. Other proposed criteria pertain to angular acceleration, or a mean strain; a viscous criterion has been proposed for soft tissue. Such prescriptions are unable to differentiate between various regions of the head. Also, except for strain, the other parameters do not directly produce trauma and can thus at best only be indirectly related to trauma. It is important to devise a methodology that will permit the stipulation of loading limits of individual tissue using accepted engineering failure parameters for physical disruption and, concomitantly, a proportionately lower limit for physiological dysfunction. This contribution describes such a procedure based on the principles of continuum mechanics and the knowledge of material properties. It represents a further development of the suggestion of the author 23 years ago to analyze head response to impact by means of these analytical tools. An example of the response to impact of a viscoelastic tube which could be extended to model the loading of a cerebral vessel due to a head collision is indicated.(A) For the covering abstracts of the conference see IRRD 826430.

• Corporate Authors:

  IRCOBI (International Research Council on the Biokinetics of Impacts)

  109 Avenue Salvador Allende
  Bron CEDEX,   France  F-69675
• Authors:
  • Goldsmith, W
• Publication Date: 1989

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: p. 1-12
• Serial:
  • Publication of: IRCOBI-Secretariat
  • Publisher: IRCOBI (International Research Council on the Biokinetics of Impacts)

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Acceleration (Mechanics); Biophysics; Conferences; Finite element method; Fractures (Anatomy); Head; Injuries; Injury severity; Loads; Skull; Tolerance (Physiology); Ultimate load design
• Subject Areas: Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00498378
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL)
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Sep 30 1990 12:00AM