Citation

Ghajari M, Peldschus S, Galvanetto U, Asgharpour Z. Proc. IRCOBI 2010; 38: 95-106.

Affiliation

Imperial College London, Department of Aeronautics, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, UK; Ludwig-Maximilians University, Institute of Legal Medicine, Nussbaumstr. 26, Munich 80336, Germany; Padova University, DCT, Via Marzolo 9, 35131 Padova, Italy

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, International Research Council on Biomechanics of Injury)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The Finite Element (FE) method has been used to study full-scale oblique impacts of a motorcycle helmet. For these impacts, an elaborate FE model of the human body was employed. The results were compared to the results of the same impacts but by using the detached head of the body. It has been found that the presence of the body influences the head rotational acceleration components (up to 40% for the simulated impact configuration). On the basis of the equations of general three-dimensional motion of a rigid body, it is shown that this influence can be taken into account in detached head impact tests through modifying the inertia matrix of the head. For a severe oblique impact, the modified inertia was calculated and applied to the head. The head rotational acceleration components predicted by using the modified detached head were in good agreement with those obtained from full- scale oblique impacts.