Scott R. Lucas, Ph.D., P.E.

Dr. Lucas addresses questions regarding human injury in both automotive and military impact biomechanics. His principle area of emphasis is spine injury biomechanics and his research focus includes injury mechanisms, human tolerance to injury, and soft tissue material and failure properties. His research has ranged from full-scale studies of post mortem human subjects and anthropomorphic test devices to investigations of microstructural components of soft tissues. From these experiments, he has developed impact-rate viscoelastic constitutive and analytical models at the continuum and microstructural length scales. His experiments and models can be used to predict human kinetic and kinematic responses to impact scenarios and to assess the associated risk of injury.

Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Lucas was a Research Assistant at the University of Virginia Center for Applied Biomechanics, where he directed and conducted injury biomechanics research projects. His graduate research included dynamics, solid mechanics, constitutive modeling, anatomy and physiology, human injury mechanisms, and impact biomechanics.

Lucas SR, Bass CR, Crandall JR, Kent RW, Shen FH, Salzar RS. Viscoelastic and failure properties of spine ligament collagen fascicles. Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology 2009. [Epub ahead of print].

Bass C, Rafaels K, Salzar R, Kent R, Lloyd M, Lucas S, Meyerhoff K, Planchak C, Damon A, Bass G, Carboni M. Thoracic and lumbar spinal impact tolerance. Accident Analysis and Prevention 2008; 40:487–495.

Lucas S, Bass C, Salzar R, Oyen M, Planchak C, Ziemba A, Shender B, Paskoff G. Viscoelastic properties of the cervical spine under fast strain rate deformations. Acta Biomaterialia 2008; 4(1):117–125.

Bass C, Planchak C, Salzar R, Lucas S, Rafaels K, Shender B, Paskoff G. The temperature dependent viscoelasticity of porcine lumbar spine ligaments. Spine 2007; 32(16):E436–E442.

Bass C, Lucas S, Salzar R, Oyen M, Planchak C, Shender B, Paskoff G. Failure properties of cervical spinal ligaments under fast strain rate deformations. Spine 2007; 32(1):E7–E13.

Bass C, Salzar R, Davis M, Lucas S, Donnellan L, Folk B, Sanderson E, Waclawik S. 2006 injury risk in behind armor blunt thoracic trauma. International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics 2006; 12(4):429–442.

Salzar R, Bass C, Kent R, Millington S, Davis M, Folk B, Lucas S, Donnellan L, Murakami D, and Kobayashi S. Development of injury criteria for pelvic fracture in frontal crashes. Traffic Injury Prevention 2006; 7:299–305.

Conference Publications

Lucas SR, Salzar RS, Bass CR. An hierarchical viscoelastic ligament failure model. American Society of Biomechanics Annual Meeting, State College, PA, 2009.

Lucas SR, Ianuzzi A, McGowan J, Toosi K. Analysis of shoulder ligament injury potential in automotive rear-end impacts. Proceedings, SAE World Congress, Detroit, Michigan, Paper 2009-01-1204, 2009.

Bass CR, Crandall JR, Salzar RS, Rafaels K, Damon A, Lucas S. Assessing the Neck Injury Index (NII) using experimental cadaver tests. Proceedings, International Research Council on Biomechanics of Injury, Bern, Switzerland, 2008.

Bass C, Salzar R, Ash J, Ziemba A, Lucas S, Peterson R, Pierce E. Development of dynamics models for assessing spinal dynamics and injury from repeated impact in high speed planing boats. Proceedings, SAE World Congress, Detroit, MI, Paper 2008-01-0782, 2008.

Lucas S, Salzar R, Bass C. Viscoelastic properties of spine ligament collagen fascicles. Proceedings, ASME Summer Bioengineering Conference, Marco Island, FL, 2008.

Lucas S, Fisher J, McGowan J. Reconstruction and biomechanical analysis of low speed automobile crashes. Proceedings, ASME Summer Bioengineering Conference, Marco Island, FL, 2008.

McGowan J, Fisher J, Lucas S. Biomechanical analysis of occupant kinematics: interpretation of witness marks. Proceedings, ASME Summer Bioengineering Conference, Marco Island, FL, 2008.

Bass C, Damon A, Lucas S, Salzar R, Shender B, Paskoff G. High strain rate material characterization of the thoracic and lumbar spine. Aerospace Medical Association Conference, Boston, MA, 2008.

Lucas S, Bass C, Salzar R, Shender B, Paskoff G. Spinal level effects on viscoelastic properties of ligaments under fast strain rate deformations. International Society of Biomechanics Conference, Taipei, Taiwan, 2007.

Lucas S, Bass C, Salzar R, Shender B, Paskoff G. High rate viscoelastic properties of human cervical spinal intervertebral discs. American Society of Biomechanics Annual Meeting, Blacksburg, VA, 2006.

Lucas S, Bass C, Salzar R, Planchak C, Shender B, Paskoff G. Temperature and age effects on high rate viscoelasticity of cervical spine components. World Congress of Biomechanics, Munich, Germany, 2006.

Lucas S, Bass C, Salzar R, Planchak C, Ziemba A, Shender BS, Paskoff G. Age-dependent material properties of soft tissues in the spine. Aerospace Medical Association Conference, Orlando, FL, 2006.

Kent R, Oyen M, Mattice J, Lucas S. A technique for quantifying the work performed and the rate sensitivity of the dynamically loaded thorax. International Research Council on the Biomechanics of Impact, Madrid, Spain, 2006.

Bass C, Donnellan L, Salzar R, Lucas S, Folk B, Davis M, Rafaels K, Planchak C, Meyerhoff K, Ziemba A, Alem N. A new neck injury criterion in combined vertical/frontal crashes with head supported mass. International Research Council on the Biomechanics of Impact, Madrid, Spain, 2006.

Bass C, Ziemba A, Lucas S, Salzar R. Evaluation of criteria for assessing risk of impact injury in high speed craft. ABCD Symposium on Human Performance, Panama City, FL, 2006.

Shender BS, Paskoff G, Wible C, Yoganandan N, Pintar F, Nicolella D, Lucas S, Bass C. Assessing the probability of cervical spine injury using probabilistic methods. Aerospace Medical Association Conference, Orlando, FL, 2006.

Bass C, Donnellan L, Salzar R, Lucas S, Folk B, Davis M, Rafaels K, Planchak C, Meyerhoff K, Ziemba A, Alem N. Injuries in cadaveric tests simulating rotary wing aviators in vertical/frontal crashes with head mounted mass. Aerospace Medical Association Conference, Orlando, FL, 2006.

Lucas S, Bass C, Salzar R, Planchak C, Ziemba A, Shender B, Paskoff G. Failure properties of cervical spinal ligaments under high-rate loading. American Society of Biomechanics / International Society of Biomechanics Conference, Cleveland, OH, 2005.

Lucas S, Bass C, Salzar R, Folk J, Donnellan L, Paskoff G, Shender B. Material properties and failure characteristics of cervical spinal ligaments under high-rate loading. Aerospace Medical Association Conference, Kansas City, MO, 2005.

Francis W, Bonivitch A, Moravits D, Paskoff G, Shender B, Bass C, Lucas S, Pintar F, Yoganandan N, Koebbe M, Thacker B, Nicolella D. Probabilistic response of a validated and verified parametric cervical spine finite element model. 49th Stapp Car Crash Conference, Washington, D.C., 2005.

Bass C, Salzar R, Ziemba A, Lucas S, Peterson R, Price B, Labreque J. Evaluation of injury criteria for high speed planing craft. SAVAIC Conference, New Orleans, LA, 2005.

Bass C, Salzar R, Ziemba A, Lucas S, Peterson R, Price B, Labreque J. Injury specification strategy for occupants in high-speed planing craft. SAVIAC Conference, New Orleans, LA, 2005.

Bass C, Salzar R, Ziemba A, Lucas S, Peterson R. The modeling and measurement of humans in high speed planing boats under repeated vertical impacts. IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact, Prague, Czech Republic, 2005.

Bass C, Donnellan L, Salzar R, Lucas S, Folk B, Davis M, Rafaels K, Planchak C, Meyerhoff K, Ziemba A, Alem N, Crowley J. A new neck injury criterion for rotary wing aviators in vertical/frontal crashes with head mounted mass. Aerospace Medical Association Conference, Kansas City, MO, 2005.

Lucas S, Bass C, Salzar R, Folk J, Donnellan L, Paskoff G, Shender B. Viscoelastic characterization of cervical spinal ligaments. American Society of Biomechanics Conference, Portland, OR, 2004.

Bass C, Kent R, Salzar R, Millington S, Davis M, Folk B, Lucas S, Donnellan L, Murakami D, Kobayashi S. Development of injury criteria for pelvic fracture in frontal crashes. IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact, Graz, Austria, 2004.

Bass C, Lucas S. Viscoelastic characterization of cervical spinal ligaments. Joint Task Forces Workshop on Neck Injury, San Antonio, TX, 2004.

Bass C, Salzar R, Davis M, Lucas S, Donnellan L, Folk B, Sanderson E, Waclawik S. Injury risk in behind armor blunt thoracic trauma. Personal Armor Systems Symposium, The Hague, Netherlands, 2004.

Bass C, Lucas S, Salzar R, van Rooij L, Pilkey W, Peterson R, Martin S. Human biodynamic response to high speed craft shock loading. SAVIAC Conference, 2003.

Bass C, Lucas S, Salzar R, van Rooij L. Computational modeling of high speed boat occupants. MACC Conference, Norfolk, VA, 2003.

Bass C, Salzar R, Lucas S, Donnellan L, Folk B, van Rooij L, Pilkey W. Medical consensus working group on shock mitigation for high speed planing boat occupants. United States Special Warfare Command, San Diego, CA, 2002.

Invited Presentations

Lucas SR. Injury biomechanics. Guest lecturer for the Princeton University Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, Princeton, NJ, April 16, 2009.

Lucas SR. Continuum and structural modeling of spinal soft tissues. Guest lecturer for the University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science, Charlottesville, VA, October 25, 2007.

University of Virginia Center for Applied Biomechanics

Acted as a biomechanics consultant to a series of staged recreational boat collisions. This project was an investigation of boat occupant kinematics during typical boat collisions.

Directed the University of Virginia Center for Applied Biomechanics’ portion of the Naval Air Systems Command “Spinal Injury Mitigation Program.” The project involved determining the properties of spinal ligaments and intervertebral discs for the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine. Included were experimentation and analysis on spinal ligaments and intervertebral discs. The objective of this project was to determine high-rate viscoelastic properties of spine soft tissues.

Developed a viscoelastic microstructural failure model for spinal ligaments. This project involved experimentation on spinal ligaments and spinal ligament fascicles. The objective was to relate the properties of different ligament types based on ligament histology.

Performed full scale cadaver and anthropomorphic test device sled tests and component tests for a variety of projects including an investigation of added head supported mass to rotary-wing occupants, naval high speed planning boat occupant kinematics, and naval aircraft occupant kinematics during aircraft ejection.

• Aerospace Medical Association
• Sigma Xi