The effects of topology and relative density of lattice liners on traumatic brain injury mitigation
Author(s)
Farajzadeh Khosroshahi, Siamak
Duckworth, Harry
Galvanetto, Ugo
Ghajari, Mazdak
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
This paper evaluates the effects of topology and relative density of helmet lattice liners on mitigating Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Finite element (FE) models of new lattice liners with prismatic and tetrahedral topologies were developed. A typical frontal head impact in motorcycle accidents was simulated, and linear and rotational accelerations of the head were recorded. A high-fidelity FE model of TBI was loaded with the accelerations to predict the brain response during the accident. The results show that prismatic lattices have better performance in preventing TBI than tetrahedral lattices and EPS that is typically used in helmets. Moreover, varying the cell size through the thickness of the liner improves its performance, but this effect was marginal. The relative density also has a significant effect, with lattices with lower relative densities providing a better protection. Across different lattices studied here, the prismatic lattice with a relative density of 6% had the best performance and reduced the peak linear and rotational accelerations, Head Injury Criterion (HIC), brain strain and strain rate by 48%, 37%, 49%, 32% and 65% respectively, compared to the EPS liner. These results can be used to guide the design of lattice helmet liners for better mitigation of TBI.
Date Issued
2019-12-03
Date Acceptance
2019-09-26
Citation
Journal of Biomechanics, 2019, 97
ISSN
0021-9290
Publisher
Elsevier
Journal / Book Title
Journal of Biomechanics
Volume
97
Copyright Statement
© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This manuscript is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Subjects
Additive manufacturing
FEM
Graded lattice
Helmet
PPE
TBI
Biomedical Engineering
0903 Biomedical Engineering
1106 Human Movement and Sports Sciences
0913 Mechanical Engineering
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
109376
Date Publish Online
2019-10-04