The traumatic brain injury mitigation effects of a new viscoelastic add-on liner

Siegkas, P. ORCID: 0000-0001-9528-2247, Sharp, D.J. and Ghajari, M., 2019. The traumatic brain injury mitigation effects of a new viscoelastic add-on liner. Scientific Reports, 9 (1): 3471. ISSN 2045-2322

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Abstract

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) affects millions of people worldwide with significant personal and social consequences. New materials and methods offer opportunities for improving designs of TBI prevention systems, such as helmets. We combined empirical impact tests and computational modelling to test the effectiveness of new viscoelastic add-on components in decreasing biomechanical forces within the brain during helmeted head impacts. Motorcycle helmets with and without the viscoelastic components were fitted on a head/neck assembly and were tested under oblique impact to replicate realistic accident conditions. Translational and rotational accelerations were measured during the tests. The inclusion of components reduced peak accelerations, with a significant effect for frontal impacts and a marginal effect for side and rear impacts. The head accelerations were then applied on a computational model of TBI to predict strain and strain-rate across the brain. The presence of viscoelastic components in the helmet decreased strain and strain-rate for frontal impacts at low impact speeds. The effect was less pronounced for front impact at high speeds and for side and rear impacts. This work shows the potential of the viscoelastic add-on components as lightweight and cost-effective solutions for enhancing helmet protection and decreasing strain and strain-rate across the brain during head impacts.

Item Type: Journal article
Publication Title: Scientific Reports
Creators: Siegkas, P., Sharp, D.J. and Ghajari, M.
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
Date: 5 March 2019
Volume: 9
Number: 1
ISSN: 2045-2322
Identifiers:
NumberType
10.1038/s41598-019-39953-1DOI
39953Publisher Item Identifier
Divisions: Schools > School of Science and Technology
Record created by: Jonathan Gallacher
Date Added: 21 Aug 2019 09:34
Last Modified: 21 Aug 2019 09:34
URI: https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/37397

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