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Tse KM, Tan LB, Yang B, Tan VBC, Lee HP. Effect of helmet liner systems and impact directions on severity of head injuries sustained in ballistic impacts: a finite element (FE) study. Med Biol Eng Comput 2016; 55:641-662. [PMID: 27411935 DOI: 10.1007/s11517-016-1536-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2015] [Accepted: 06/15/2016] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
The current study aims to investigate the effectiveness of two different designs of helmet interior cushion, (Helmet 1: strap-netting; Helmet 2: Oregon Aero foam-padding), and the effect of the impact directions on the helmeted head during ballistic impact. Series of ballistic impact simulations (frontal, lateral, rear, and top) of a full-metal-jacketed bullet were performed on a validated finite element head model equipped with the two helmets, to assess the severity of head injuries sustained in ballistic impacts using both head kinematics and biomechanical metrics. Benchmarking with experimental ventricular and intracranial pressures showed that there is good agreement between the simulations and experiments. In terms of extracranial injuries, top impact had the highest skull stress, still without fracturing the skull. In regard to intracranial injuries, both the lateral and rear impacts generally gave the highest principal strains as well as highest shear strains, which exceed the injury thresholds. Off-cushion impacts were found to be at higher risk of intracranial injuries. The study also showed that the Oregon Aero foam pads helped to reduce impact forces. It also suggested that more padding inserts of smaller size may offer better protection. This provides some insights on future's helmet design against ballistic threats.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kwong Ming Tse
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, 9 Engineering Drive 1, Singapore, 117576, Singapore. .,Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Melbourne, Parkville Campus, Melbourne, VIC, 3010, Australia.
| | - Long Bin Tan
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, 9 Engineering Drive 1, Singapore, 117576, Singapore
| | - Bin Yang
- College of Automobile and Traffic Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, 159 LongPan Rd, Nanjing, 210037, People's Republic of China
| | - Vincent Beng Chye Tan
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, 9 Engineering Drive 1, Singapore, 117576, Singapore
| | - Heow Pueh Lee
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, 9 Engineering Drive 1, Singapore, 117576, Singapore. .,National University of Singapore (Suzhou) Research Institute, 377 Lin Quan Street, Suzhou Industrial Park, Suzhou, 215123, Jiang Su, People's Republic of China.
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