Dynamic Responses of a 3-Dimensional Multibody Model of a Biofidelic Surrogate Neck and Head Under Compressive Follower Load and Variability of Impact Velocity and Angle of impact During Head-First Impact

The neck and spinal cord injuries associated with both traffic and sports accidents have tremendous socioeconomic effects on human quality of life. Validated computational models capable of predicting the neck response under impact loads are invaluable tools to evaluate strategies and preventive measures for head-first impact. A three-dimensional multi-body dynamics model of an existing experimental surrogate neck is developed to simulate head-first impacts and to understand both kinematics and kinetics responses of the neck during different velocity and +15 degrees contact. The model is validated for resultant head and neck against the experimental set-up. The resultant head and neck loads are substantially increased in the simulation with higher velocities. At 5 m/s impact velocity both first order and second order buckling modes were observed. Keywords—Dynamic modeling, Neck injury, Cervical spine, Multi-body modelling.