A Comparison of Sacroiliac and Pubic Rami Fracture Occurrences in Oblique Side Impact Tests on Nine Post Mortem Human Subjects.

UNLABELLED: The WorldSID dummy can be equipped with both a pubic and a sacroiliac joint (S-I joint) loadcell. Although a pubic force criterion and the associated injury risk curve are currently available and used in regulation (ECE95, FMVSS214), as of today injury mechanisms, injury criteria, and injury assessment reference values are not available for the sacroiliac joint itself. The aim of this study was to investigate the sacroiliac joint injury mechanism. Three configurations were identified from full-scale car crashes conducted with the WorldSID 50th percentile male where the force passing through the pubis in all three tests was approximately 1500 N while the sacroiliac Fy/Mx peak values were 4500 N/50 Nm, 2400 N/130 Nm, and 5300 N/150 Nm, respectively. These tests were reproduced using a 150 kg guided probe impacting Post Mortem Human Subjects (PMHS) at 8 m/s, 5.4 m/s and 7.5 m/s. The shape and the orientation of the impacting face of the probe were selected to match the WorldSID pubic Fy and sacroiliac Fy/Mx loads of the three vehicle test configurations. Three PMHS were tested in each of the three configurations (nine PMHS in total).

RESULTS: In the first PMHS configuration, one specimen sustained an AIS 3 injury and one sustained an AIS 4 injury (an unstable pelvis with complete disruption of the posterior arch, a sacroiliac joint disruption associated with an iliac fracture, and a pubic symphysis separation). In the second configuration, all specimens sustained a fracture of the superior lateral iliac wing (AIS 2). In the third configuration, one specimen sustained a partial disruption of the anterior arch (AIS 2). Based on the data from strain gauges located on the pubic rami and near the sacroiliac joint, the pubic rami fractures were identified as occurring prior to the sacroiliac fractures.

CONCLUSIONS: Out of nine impactor tests performed, the PMHS S-I joint injuries were observed to consistently be associated with pelvic anterior arch fractures. In addition, from the injury sequences derived from strain gauges located on the specimen pelvises and on the injury assessments obtained by necropsy, the S-I joint fractures were observed to occur after the anterior arch fractures.