title: Helmet liner evaluation to mitigate head response from primary blast exposure.
abstract: Head injury resulting from blast loading, including mild traumatic brain injury, has been identified as an important blast-related injury in modern conflict zones. A study was undertaken to investigate potential protective ballistic helmet liner materials to mitigate primary blast injury using a detailed sagittal plane head finite element model, developed and validated against previous studies of head kinematics resulting from blast exposure. Five measures reflecting the potential for brain injury that were investigated included intracranial pressure, brain tissue strain, head acceleration (linear and rotational) and the head injury criterion. In simulations, these measures provided consistent predictions for typical blast loading scenarios. Considering mitigation, various characteristics of foam material response were investigated and a factor analysis was performed which showed that the four most significant were the interaction effects between modulus and hysteretic response, stress-strain response, damping factor and density. Candidate materials were then identified using the predicted optimal material values. Polymeric foam was found to meet the density and modulus requirements; however, for all significant parameters, higher strength foams, such as aluminum foam, were found to provide the highest reduction in the potential for injury when compared against the unprotected head.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Mechanical Engineering , University of Waterloo , Waterloo , Ontario , Canada N2L 3G1.
authors.forename: Philip A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Lockhart
authors.forename: Duane S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Cronin
mesh_terms: D000054:Acceleration; D000535:Aluminum / Q000737:chemistry; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001753:Blast Injuries / Q000517:prevention & control*; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D001924:Brain Concussion; D001930:Brain Injuries; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004867:Equipment Design; D005107:Explosions; D006257:Head; D006260:Head Protective Devices; D006801:Humans; D007427:Intracranial Pressure; D008297:Male; D008422:Materials Testing
chemical_list: D000535:Aluminum
keywords: head blast injury; head finite element model; mild traumatic brain injury; protective foam