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Virginia Tech

Linear and Angular Head Accelerations in Daily Life

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the linear accelerations, angular rates, and angular accelerations of the center of gravity of the head during daily activities and to determine the effect of angular terms on the linear accelerations. A total of 700 experiments were conducted with 18 subjects performing 13 different tasks. Resultant maxima were 93.6 m/s² for linear acceleration, 931.3 rad/s for angular acceleration and 9.03 rad/s for angular rate. Comparisons by gender were statistically significant in 21.9% of cases. Qualitatively, subject effort appeared to be the most important factor. Average error was strongly influenced by the type of motion in each event, ranging from -3.1% to 115.2% when converting from mouthpiece resultant accelerations to center of gravity acceleration. Error increases as angular rates and accelerations increase. Mouthpiece array accelerations are statistically significantly different than center of gravity accelerations in 86.3% of comparisons. Array designs from the literature are significantly different than center of gravity accelerations with equal frequency to the mouthpiece. Peak accelerations from Allen et al 1994 may require correction of up to 2G and 80% to obtain center of gravity accelerations. Angular terms must be accounted for even at daily activity levels.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Science
Level thesis:degree_level
masters
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Mechanical Engineering
Department dc:contributor.department
Mechanical Engineering
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2005

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Bussone, William
Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Duma, Stefan M.
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Gabler, Hampton Clay
  • Stitzel, Joel D.
  • Madigan, Michael L.

Subjects

dc:subject × 4

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
etd-08182005-222028
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/34615

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Bussone, William. Linear and Angular Head Accelerations in Daily Life. masters thesis, Virginia Tech, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/34615