Darling T, Muthuswamy J, Rajan S D
a School of Engineering Matter, Transport and Energy , Arizona State University , Tempe , AZ , USA.
b School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering , Arizona State University , Tempe , AZ , USA.
Comput Methods Biomech Biomed Engin. 2016 Oct;19(13):1432-42. doi: 10.1080/10255842.2016.1149574. Epub 2016 Feb 11.
The football helmet is used to help mitigate the occurrence of impact-related traumatic (TBI) and minor traumatic brain injuries (mTBI) in the game of American football. While the current helmet design methodology may be adequate for reducing linear acceleration of the head and minimizing TBI, it however has had less effect in minimizing mTBI. The objectives of this study are (a) to develop and validate a coupled finite element (FE) model of a football helmet and the human body, and (b) to assess responses of different regions of the brain to two different impact conditions - frontal oblique and crown impact conditions. The FE helmet model was validated using experimental results of drop tests. Subsequently, the integrated helmet-human body FE model was used to assess the responses of different regions of the brain to impact loads. Strain-rate, strain, and stress measures in the corpus callosum, midbrain, and brain stem were assessed. Results show that maximum strain-rates of 27 and 19 s(-1) are observed in the brain-stem and mid-brain, respectively. This could potentially lead to axonal injuries and neuronal cell death during crown impact conditions. The developed experimental-numerical framework can be used in the study of other helmet-related impact conditions.
美式橄榄球头盔用于帮助减轻美式橄榄球比赛中与撞击相关的创伤性脑损伤（TBI）和轻度创伤性脑损伤（mTBI）的发生。虽然当前的头盔设计方法可能足以降低头部的线性加速度并使TBI最小化，但在使mTBI最小化方面效果较差。本研究的目的是：（a）开发并验证一个橄榄球头盔与人体的耦合有限元（FE）模型，以及（b）评估大脑不同区域对两种不同撞击条件——额斜向撞击和头顶撞击条件的反应。使用跌落试验的实验结果对有限元头盔模型进行了验证。随后，使用集成的头盔 - 人体有限元模型评估大脑不同区域对撞击载荷的反应。评估了胼胝体、中脑和脑干中的应变率、应变和应力测量值。结果表明，在脑干和中脑中分别观察到最大应变率为27和19 s(-1)。这可能会在头顶撞击条件下导致轴突损伤和神经元细胞死亡。所开发的实验 - 数值框架可用于研究其他与头盔相关的撞击条件。
