Yun-Seok Kang

• Ph.D.
• Professor (Associate) at The Ohio State University

Learning Overview: After attending this presentation, participants will gain insight into the role of soft tissue and the presence of the fibula in tibial fracture characteristics resulting from blunt trauma. Impact on Forensic Science Community: This presentation will impact the forensic science community by providing data and analyses that explo...

div class="section abstract"> Thoracic injuries, most frequently rib fractures, commonly occur in motor vehicle crashes. With an increased reliance on human body models (HBMs) for injury prediction in various crash scenarios, all thoracic tissues and structures require more comprehensive evaluation for improvement of HBMs. The objective of this stu...

div>Vehicles equipped with automated driving systems (ADS) may have non-traditional seating configurations, such as rear-facing for front-row occupants. The objectives of this study are (1) to generate biomechanical corridors from kinematic data obtained from postmortem human subjects (PMHS) sled tests and (2) to assess the biofidelity of the Globa...

In recent post-mortem human subjects (PMHS) studies in a high-speed rear-facing frontal impact (HSRFFI), the PMHS sustained multiple rib fractures. The seatback structure and properties of the seats might contribute to these fractures. This study aimed to determine if a homogeneous rear-facing seat with foam-covered seatback would mitigate the risk...

div>Drop tower testing was conducted using 50th percentile male PMHS at 15G peak acceleration in a rigid seat, with a seat pan-to-seatback angle of 90°. Subjects were instrumented with 6DOF motion blocks at T1, T4, T12, L3, and S1 to capture detailed vertebral body kinematics. Pressure sensors were also placed throughout the lumbar spine to estimat...

div>Thorax injuries are a significant cause of mortality in automotive crashes, with varying susceptibility across sex and age demographics. Finite element (FE) human body models (HBMs) offer the potential for injury outcome analysis by incorporating anthropometric variations. Recent advancements in material constitutive models, cortical bone fract...

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Postmortem human subject (PMHS) studies are essential to brain injury research in motor vehicle safety. However, postmortem deterioration reduces the similarity between postmortem test results and in vivo response in material testing of brain tissue and in biomechanical testing of the whole head. This pilot study explores the effect of potential pr...

Skeletal trauma interpretation is an important duty of forensic anthropologists. The objective of this study was to investigate differences in fracture characteristics within pairs of ulnae loaded at two distinct rates to explore the predictability of loading velocity from observed fracture outcomes. Ten ulna pairs from unembalmed adult female po...

Porosity is an independent predictor of fracture risk, particularly at common sites of osteoporotic fracture. Pores concentrate mechanical stress, allowing microcracks to initiate and propagate into fracture even under low nominal stress. Localized mechanical strain also regulates the frequency and extent of bone remodeling, influencing how pore sy...

Learning Overview: After attending this presentation, attendees will understand the relationship between global tibia size and fracture characteristics through an examination of fracture outcomes in human tibiae experimentally loaded in the same blunt force bending mechanism. Impact on Forensic Science Community: This presentation will impact the f...

Elderly populations are particularly vulnerable to morbidity and mortality following rib fracture. Previous work has shown that rib structural properties are best explained by simplified cross-sectional geometry adjacent to the fracture location, outperforming age, sex, body size, bone mineral density, and simple whole rib geometry. Although cross-...

Rib fractures are associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality. Improved methods to assess rib bone quality are needed to identify at-risk populations. Quantitative computed tomography (QCT) can be used to calculate volumetric bone mineral density (vBMD) and bone mineral content (BMC) which may be related to rib fracture risk. The objectiv...

div>Oblique motor vehicle crashes can cause serious head or brain injuries due to contact with interior vehicle structures even with the deployment of air bags, as they are not yet completely successful in preventing traumatic brain injury. Rotational head velocity is strongly correlated to the risk of brain injury, and this head motion is potentia...

Pedestrian road traffic injuries are a global concern with incidences ranging from 20-50 million each year. To support equitable and applicable research into pedestrian injuries, experimental studies must incorporate female and male samples of various ages and sizes. The objective of this study was to examine relationships between tibial biomechani...

The objective of this study was to assess the biofidelity of the Global Human Body Models Consortium (GHBMC) 50th male (M50-O) v6.0 seated in an upright (25-degree recline) all-belts-to-seat (ABTS) in a 56 km/h rear-facing frontal impact. The experimental boundary conditions from the post-mortem human subjects (PMHS) tests were replicated in the co...

Dynamic locomotion in legged robots is close to industrial collaboration, but a lack of standardized testing obstructs commercialization. The issues are not merely political, theoretical, or algorithmic but also physical, indicating limited studies and comprehension regarding standard testing infrastructure and equipment. For decades, the approache...

Dynamic locomotion in legged robots is close to industrial collaboration, but a lack of standardized testing obstructs commercialization. The issues are not merely political, theoretical, or algorithmic but also physical, indicating limited studies and comprehension regarding standard testing infrastructure and equipment. For decades, the approache...

Objective: In 2020, 17% of all crash fatalities were individuals aged 65 years or older. Crash data also revealed that for older occupants, thoracic related injuries are among the leading causes of fatality. Historically, the majority of near-side impact postmortem human subjects (PMHS) studies used a generic load wall to capture external loads th...

Objective: One potential nonstandard seating configuration for vehicles with automated driving systems (ADS) is a reclined seat that is rear-facing when in a frontal collision. There are limited biomechanical response and injury data for this seating configuration during high-speed collisions. The main objective of this study was to investigate tho...

Objective: The objective of this study was the quantitative evaluation and comparison of the responses of the Hybrid III 5th percentile female (HIII-05F) and the 5th percentile female Test Device for Human Occupant Restraint (THOR-05F) anthropomorphic test devices (ATDs) subjected to abdominal loading conditions. Method: The HIII-05F and THOR-05...

A key component of the forensic anthropological examination is skeletal trauma analysis, which accounts for the majority of forensic anthropologists’ expert testimonies. However, a major gap in the current knowledge surrounding skeletal trauma has been identified, specifically the data necessary to conduct comprehensive bone trauma analysis with es...

Learning Overview: After attending this presentation, attendees will understand the importance and value of multidisciplinary experimental skeletal trauma research through an examination of strain modes (e.g., tension or compression) during fracture of human tibiae in a bending loading mechanism. Impact on the Forensic Science Community: This prese...

The Forensic Anthropology Skeletal Trauma (FAST) database is a novel resource, funded by the National Institute of Justice, which provides trauma analysis data for education, training, and case comparisons. Students, academics, and practitioners can gain an interdisciplinary perspective of skeletal trauma through an examination of outcomes from exp...

Objective: The purpose of this study was to generate biomechanical response corridors of the small female thorax during a frontal hub impact and evaluate scaled corridors that have been used to assess biofidelity of small female anthropomorphic test devices (ATDs) and human body models (HBMs). Methods: Three small female postmortem human subject...

The objective of this study was to develop an analytical model using strain-force relationships from individual rib and eviscerated thorax impacts to predict bony thoracic response. Experimental eviscerated thorax forces were assumed to have two distinct responses: an initial inertial response and subsequently, the main response. A second order mas...

The tibia is the most commonly fractured lower extremity bone in pedestrian versus motor vehicle crashes [1]. Specifically, the diaphysis is the most frequently fractured region of the tibia [2]. Previous studies have demonstrated considerable variation in number of fractures, fracture type, and fracture group in experimental 4-point bending of hum...

Rib fractures are a significant source of morbidity and mortality, particularly for the elderly. Preliminary work has established that simplified cross-sectional geometry explains a moderate amount of variation in rib structural properties, out-performing age, sex, body size, bone mineral density, and simple whole rib geometry. However, cortical bo...

Novel approaches to assessing bone quality and fracture risk that move beyond isolated bone mineral density (BMD) have the potential to improve diagnostic criteria and intervention thresholds. Attempts to shift the current global paradigm away from dual x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) or assumptions of fracture risk based solely on age or sex, are drive...

Recent years have seen an increase in contributions to the criminal justice system through expert testimony regardingskeletal trauma analysis and interpretation. In order to scientifically validate skeletal trauma analysis methods and ensure the dependability of interpretations to support expert testimonies, the reliability of generally accepted co...

Tibia fractures are the most common injury in vehicle-to-pedestrian impacts. To provide accurate injury risk predictions, sex differences in tibia properties should be investigated. The objective of this study was to identify the relationship between structural properties and cortical bone morphometric parameters of tibiae in males and females. Ten...

Motor vehicle crashes can produce serious head or brain injuries due to contact with interior vehicle structures. It has been found through both field data analysis and experimental testing that many of these brain injuries occur in oblique crashes, even with the deployment of air bags. Research has determined that rotational head velocity is stron...

The objective of this study was to generate biomechanical corridors from post-mortem human subjects (PMHS) in two different seatback recline angles in 56 km/h sled tests simulating a rear-facing occupant during a frontal vehicle impact. PMHS were placed in a production seat which included an integrated seat belt. To achieve a repeatable configurati...

Thorax injuries mainly due to rib fractures have been associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality in motor vehicle crashes. Thoracic biomechanics has been studied extensively, but there are no robust biomechanical response targets for ribs that consider age, sex, body size, and vulnerability factors. The objective of this study was to gen...

Due to high-rate loads placed on the torso during motor vehicle crashes, the human thorax is commonly injured, and resulting rib fractures are linked to fatalities. The goal of this study was to explore the variation in strain modes, magnitudes, and rates of rib levels 3-8 in a dynamic, distributed loading scenario in a series of hierarchical tissu...

div class="section abstract"> The objective is to determine whether responses and injury risks for pediatric occupants in child restraint systems (CRS) are affected by vehicle seat cushion stiffness and fore/aft cushion length. Eighteen sled tests were conducted using the Federal Motor Vehicles Safety Standard (FMVSS) 213 frontal pulse (48 km/h). S...

Thoracic injuries, specifically rib fractures, are of significant clinical and forensic interest and occur in high frequencies in homicides, accidents, and motor vehicle crashes. However, current analysis of rib fractures lacks a systematic method for characterizing and interpreting these injuries. The goal of the present research is to provide a s...

One potential non-standard seating configuration for vehicles with automated driving systems is to have seating that faces the centre of the vehicle. This would result in the rear-facing seats experiencing rear-impact crash dynamics when the vehicle is in a frontal collision. Because rear crashes often occur at low speeds, there are limited biomech...

Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), commonly known as drones, are part of a new and budding industry in the United States. Economic and public benefits associated with UAS use across multiple commercial sectors are driving new regulations which alter the stringent laws currently restricting UAS flights over people. As new regulations are enacted and m...

Thoracic injuries are frequently observed in motor vehicle crashes, and rib fractures are the most common of those injuries. Thoracic response targets have previously been developed from data obtained from post-mortem human subject (PMHS) tests in frontal loading conditions, most commonly of mid-size males. Traditional scaling methods are employed...

Objective: The current state of the art human body models (HBMs) underpredict the number of fractured ribs. Also, it has not been shown that the models can predict the fracture locations. Efforts have been made to create subject specific rib models for fracture prediction, with mixed results. The aim of this study is to evaluate if subject-specific...

This study investigated the response of the Global Human Body Models Consortium (GHBMC) M50-O v4.5 model in a simulated thoracic impact and compared to the responses of post-mortem human subjects (PMHS) in physical experiments. The model was simulated in four tissue states: intact, intact with upper limbs removed, denuded (superficial tissue remove...

Thoracic injuries, specifically rib fractures, are prevalent in motor vehicle crashes and are a significant source of morbidity and mortality. Rib fractures present in a variety of patterns, ranging in severity from minor to severe. The number of fractures also contributes to the injury assessment; as fracture number increases, severity increases....

Here we present detailed regional bone thickness and cross‐sectional measurements from full adult ribs using high resolution CT scans processed with a cortical bone mapping technique. Sixth ribs from 33 subjects ranging from 24 to 99 years of age were used to produce average cortical bone thickness maps and to provide average ± 1SD corridors for ex...

Exploring various factors on why ribs did not fail on dynamic impact

Due to the increased vulnerability in the older population, motor vehicle crash (MVC) older occupants are more likely than younger occupants to sustain head injuries resulting in intracranial bleeding. Among the most lethal are acute subdual hematomas (ASDH), with mortality rates cited up to 50%. Bridging veins crossing from the surface of the brai...

Post-mortem human subjects (PMHS) are frequently used to characterize biomechanical response and injury tolerance of humans to various types of loading by means of instrumentation installed directly on the skeleton. Data extracted from such tests are often used to develop and validate anthropomorphic test devices (ATDs), which function as human sur...

The high fatality rate of the elderly in traffic accidents is one of the important issues in traffic safety. It is necessary to consider the influence of age and gender to reduce traffic fatalities of elderly occupants according to previous studies. The objective was to identify representative accident scenarios for elderly female occupants in side...

The biofidelity of the Global Human Body Models Consortium 50th percentile male detailed occupant model (GHBMC M50-O) was evaluated against biomechanical responses of Post Mortem Human Subjects (PMHS) in rear impacts at 17 and 24 km/h of delta-V [Kang et al., 2012]. Motivation of this study: Virtual testing with vehicle and human body models would...

Thoracic injuries continue to be a major health concern in motor vehicle crashes. Previous thoracic research has focused on 50th percentile males and utilized scaling techniques to apply results to different demographics. Individual rib testing offers the advantage of capturing demographic differences; however, understanding of rib properties in th...

Despite safety advances, thoracic injuries in motor vehicle crashes remain a significant source of morbidity and mortality, and rib fractures are the most prevalent of thoracic injuries. The objective of this study was to explore sources of variation in rib structural properties in order to identify sources of differential risk of rib fracture betw...

We present a novel miniaturized dual-band implantable antenna for microwave backscattering at 2.4/4.8 GHz. These bands are recently emerging as highly promising for batteryless implants, viz. implants that receive power from an exterior interrogator at 2.4 GHz and backscatter their sensed signals at 4.8 GHz. Compared to the smallest reported 2.4/4....

Head and neck responses of anthropomorphic test devices and computational human body models should be validated in different impact modes, e.g., frontal, oblique, side, and twist. The main objective of this study is to create biomechanical response targets of the head and neck of post mortem human surrogates using a controlled mini-sled system in v...

In an attempt to increase trunk mobility of astronauts in the Orion space capsule upon re-entry and landing on Earth, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) designed a planetary suit body seal closure (BSC). This BSC is a stainless steel, interlocking ring, that would be surrounding the torso of Orion occupants and allow for compa...

OBJECTIVE: During a frontal vehicle crash, for children seated in the rear seat, the first points of contact with the vehicle interior are often the foot, ankle, or tibia. The objective of this study was to evaluate leg interaction with the front seatback during a frontal collision using a prototype Hybrid III 6 year‐old anthropomorphic test device...

Finite element models can be used to evaluate thoracic injury mitigation strategies during a motor vehicle collision; however, matched structural and material properties for ribs are needed to validate these models. While it is possible to obtain material properties from ribs that have already undergone structural testing, it is unknown to what deg...

Objective: Few studies have looked at the effectiveness of the top tether during side impacts. In these studies, limited anthropomorphic test device (ATD) data were collected and/or few side impact scenarios were observed. The goal of this study was to further understand the effects of the top tether on ATD responses and child restraint system (CRS...

Rib fractures sustained during motor vehicle crashes are a common cause of increased mortality, and their causes within and between individuals is not fully understood. This study aimed to identify the effect of body height, body weight, and body mass index (BMI) on measured structural properties of human ribs. Two‐ hundred sixty one ribs from one‐...

This study investigated the biofidelity of anthropomorphic test device (ATD) abdomens subjected to a belt loading test condition. A total of six ATD/abdomen insert combinations were subjected to belt loading using a seatbelt pull mechanism, with the ATDs seated upright in a free‐back configuration. Three 50th percentile male ATDs were tested, inclu...

The chest is one of the most frequently injured body regions in motor vehicle collisions. However, the relationship between the structural and material properties of the ribs has been largely unstudied. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate potential correlations between the structural properties of whole ribs and the material proper...

Normalisation is the process of modifying a set of post‐mortem human subject (PMHS) response data to better represent that of a standard sized human. This improved method is based on the fact that all plots of deflection energy versus deflection for the thorax are of constant slope. The deflection energy is the integral of the applied impact force...

As the number of elderly drivers and occupants continues to increase, it is important that vehicle safety equipment and restraint systems are investigated to understand if current systems are protecting these occupants during frontal collisions. The objective of this study is to examine thoracic injury to post mortem human subjects over the age of...

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of chestbands on both global and local thoracic response. A total of twenty-two frontal impacts were imposed on two post-mortem human surrogates, using a 23 kg pneumatic impactor. Impacts were at speeds of 0.8, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 m/s, and there were either 0, 1, or 2 chestbands on the subject. The...

Background: Reports estimate that 1.6 to 3.8 million cases of concussion occur in sports and recreation each year in the United States. Despite continued efforts to reduce the occurrence of concussion, the rate of diagnosis continues to increase. The mechanisms of concussion are thought to involve linear and rotational head accelerations and veloc...

Objective: Vehicle safety is improving, thus decreasing the number of life-threatening injuries and increasing the need for research in other areas of the body. The current child anthropomorphic test device (ATD) does not have the capabilities or instrumentation to measure many of the potential interactions between the lower extremity and the vehic...

The human thorax is commonly injured in motor vehicle crashes, and despite advancements in occupant safety rib fractures are highly prevalent. The objective of this study was to quantify the ability of gross and cross-sectional geometry, separately and in combination, to explain variation of human rib structural properties. One hundred and twenty-t...

Elderly persons (>65 years) have an increased injury susceptibility to subdural hematoma (SDH) during both falls and motor-vehicle accidents. Increased SDH occurrence with age may be a result of brain atrophy, quantified as decreasing brain parenchymal fraction (BPF), that leads to greater relative displacement during rotational motion. The purpose...

Motor vehicle collision (MVC) was the second leading cause of traumatic brain injury (TBI) with an estimated 292,202 people (17.3%) sustaining a TBI from MVC annually. MVC resulted in the largest percentage of TBI related deaths with 16,402 occurring annually (31.8%). Six degrees of freedom (6 DOF) rigid body kinematics are often measured using six...

Injuries to the brain come in many different forms,from traumatic brain injuries such as concussions and contusions to acquired brain injuries such as anoxia and hypoxia.In order to study these injuries, human cadavers have been used to simulate an in vivosubject condition. However, at the instant of death, the brain begins its tissue decomposition...

Objectives: In order to understand the mechanisms of TBI and develop proper safety measures, it is essential that accurate instrumentation methods are utilized. The Brain Injury Criterion (BrIC) has been developed and validated to predict brain injuries in combination with the head injury criterion (Takhounts et al., 2011 Takhounts EG, Hasija V, Ri...

Overview of a broad project with the goal of identifying differential fracture risk in human ribs via experimental testing and a hierarchical approach to data analysis.

Elderly persons (>65 years) have an increased injury susceptibility to subdural hematoma (SDH) during both falls and motor-vehicle accidents. Increased SDH occurrence with age may be a result of brain atrophy, quantified as decreasing brain parenchymal fraction (BPF), that leads to greater relative motion during rotational loads. The purpose of thi...

Past studies have found that a pressure based injury risk function was the best predictor of liver injuries due to blunt impacts. In an effort to expand upon these findings, this study investigated the biomechanical responses of the abdomen of post mortem human surrogates (PMHS) to high-speed seatbelt loading and developed external response targets...