Dynamic characterisation of human neck for impact applications

The neck is the part of the spine and has highest risk of injury in traffic accidents. Neck trauma can occur in several types of collisions, but rear-end collisions have the highest risk of trauma. Human neck models are needed to quantify the risk of neck trauma and to develop protective systems for it. For human neck models to behave like real human beings, the passive mechanical properties of the neck as well as the active muscle contractions need to be accurately modelled. In this thesis, active muscle behaviour will be modelled just before, during and just after the collision. Thus, static equilibrium will be achieved in the neck model and reflex muscle contractions will be modelled accurately. Volunteer test data will be used to validate and dynamically characterize the neck model. Among these data, muscle electromyography signals are of foremost importance. The results obtained in this thesis can be used in future active crash-test-manikin designs.