Toward reducing impact induced brain injury: Lessons from a computational study of army and football helmet pads

摘要

We use computational simulations to compare the impact response of differentfootball and U.S. Army helmet pad materials. We conduct experiments tocharacterize the material response of different helmet pads. We simulateexperimental helmet impact tests performed by the U.S. Army to validate ourmethods. We then simulate a cylindrical impactor striking different pads. Theacceleration history of the impactor is used to calculate the Head InjuryCriterion for each pad. We conduct sensitivity studies exploring the effects ofpad composition, geometry, and material stiffness. We find that: (1) Thefootball pad materials do not outperform the currently used military padmaterial in militarily-relevant impact scenarios; (2) Optimal materialproperties for a pad depend on impact energy; and (3) Thicker pads performbetter at all velocities. Our analysis suggests that by using larger helmetshells with correspondingly thicker pads, impact-induced traumatic brain injurymay be significantly reduced. Keywords: helmet, pad, head injury, traumatic brain injury, head injurycriterion, impact