Materials Science and Technology Division-Code 6300, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375, USA.
Mil Med. 2021 Jan 25;186(Suppl 1):592-600. doi: 10.1093/milmed/usaa240.
This effort, motivated and guided by prior simulated injury results of the unprotected head, is to assess and compare helmet pad configurations on the head for the effective mitigation of blast pressure transmission in the brain in multiple blast exposure environments.
A finite element model of blast loading on the head with six different helmet pad configurations was used to generate brain model biomechanical responses. The blast pressure attenuation performance of each pad configuration was evaluated by using the calculated pressure exposure fraction in the brain model. Monte Carlo simulations generated repetitive blast cumulative exposures.
Significant improvement of a 6-Pad Modified configuration compared to a 6-Pad Baseline configuration indicates the importance of providing protection against the side blast. Both 12-Pad configurations are very effective in mitigating pressure in the brain. Repetitive blast exposure statistics for operational exposures shows that pad configurations with a larger number of pads and smaller gaps between pads perform better than the configurations with a smaller number of pads and larger gaps between pads.
Optimizing helmet pad size and/or placement could provide an improved protection by minimizing the side blast orientation effects and mitigating high-pressure fields in the brain from repeated blast exposures.
本研究旨在评估和比较不同头盔衬垫配置在多次爆炸暴露环境下对头部的防护效果，以减轻爆炸压力在大脑中的传递。该研究基于先前对未受保护头部的模拟损伤结果，受到了启发。
使用有限元模型模拟头部在六种不同头盔衬垫配置下的爆炸载荷，以生成脑模型生物力学响应。通过计算脑模型中的压力暴露分数，评估每个衬垫配置的爆炸压力衰减性能。使用蒙特卡罗模拟生成重复性爆炸累积暴露。
与 6 垫基线配置相比，6 垫改良配置的显著改善表明，提供针对侧面爆炸的防护非常重要。两种 12 垫配置都非常有效地减轻了大脑中的压力。针对操作暴露的重复性爆炸暴露统计数据表明，具有更多衬垫和更小衬垫之间间隙的衬垫配置比具有更少衬垫和更大衬垫之间间隙的配置表现更好。
通过最小化侧面爆炸的影响，并减轻大脑中重复爆炸暴露产生的高压场，优化头盔衬垫的大小和/或放置位置可以提供更好的保护效果。
