Determination of high-risk impact sites on a Hybrid III headform by finite element analysis

Abstract

The current standards and methods to evaluate helmet performance remain focused on traumatic brain injuries and not concussive injuries. This is reflected in the methodologies currently used and the injury metrics employed to determine the pass/fail criteria for the helmets being tested. To address the problem surrounding concussion and helmets, a method reflecting high risk of concussive injury must be developed. The purpose of this research was to identify high risk of concussive injury impact sites on the Hybrid III headform using the Wayne State head injury finite element model. The Hybrid III headform was impacted using a linear impactor in five different sites with four angles per site at 5.5 m/s. The resulting acceleration loading curves were used as input for brain deformation analyses using the Wayne State University Brain Injury Model. The brain deformation results indicated that there are 12 impact conditions on the Hybrid III headform which reflect a risk of concussion above 80% when compared with the literature. The method used and impact sites discovered by this research differ significantly from the current standard method and may be used to guide future impact sites for the evaluation of helmet performance.