Author(s)

R.C. Anderson, R.H. Wahl, R.T. Hart & S.J. Guccione Jr.

Abstract

A technique was developed whereby interfacial sliding finite elements were used to represent the interaction between segmented bony structures and overlaying muscles as may occur during neck flexion. It was demonstrated that the force in the muscle elements increased by as much as 50% when required to conform to neck curvature instead of when allowed to act along a line from origin to insertion, but this was not apparent until well beyond the peak input acceleration. The direction of the resulting force was also significantly altered by the conforming geometry. This resulted in significantly different kinematic profiles late in the event. However, peak accelerations were not significantly affected as these occurred just at the onset of sliding contact. Thi

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