Knee Flail Design Limits: Background, Experimentation and Design Criteria.
Abstract
A major problem experienced during ejection of crewmembers from disabled aircraft is flailing injury to the knee caused by the large aerodynamic forces. The majority of injuries that occur are tears of the collagenous tissues, ligaments and capsular structures, which hold the tibia and femur together at the knee. The design of protective systems capable of preventing these injuries requires knowledge of the mechanical properties of knee ligaments, and the factors which can effect the experimental results. This report combines new experimental data on the tensile strength of human anterior cruciate ligaments and torsional strength of the intact human knee with data on the strength of Rhesus monkey knee ligaments. The information is organized and presented so as to provide a background for relating mechanical property studies of ligaments and tendons to the establishment of design criteria for protective systems. In the last two chapters, the torsional strength data obtained under the current contract are presented and design criteria for the prevention of torsional injuries are developed. The effects of age and species on the tensile strength of the anterior cruciate ligament which were determined in the current contract are presented in greater detail in a separate Air Force technical report. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 1978
- Accession Number
- ADA062384
Entities
People
- David Butler
- Edward Grood
- Frank Noyes
Organizations
- University of Cincinnati Medical Center