A technique to prescribe a vertical acceleration-time load on the human head–neck complex

An experimental technique is established to induce a prescribed upward acceleration-time load on the human head–neck complex. The primary objective is to replicate experimentally the initial loading history experienced at the base of the cervical spine during pilot ejection from a cockpit. A drop tower is specially modified to achieve this and seven head–neck complexes from male human cadavers were tested. The experimental acceleration-time results follow the desired profiles closely. High-speed photography is used to capture visual images of the ejection process to examine the dynamic response of specimens and to derive kinematic data on vertebrae motion during ejection.