Citation

Giudice JS, Caudillo A, Mukherjee S, Kong K, Park G, Kent R, Panzer MB. Ann. Biomed. Eng. 2020; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Center for Applied Biomechanics, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Virginia, 4040 Lewis and Clark Dr., Charlottesville, VA, 229011, USA. panzer@virginia.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10439-020-02472-6

PMID

32034610

Abstract

Despite the use of helmets in American football, brain injuries are still prevalent. To reduce the burden of these injuries, novel impact mitigation systems are needed. The Vicis Zero1 (VZ1) American football helmet is unique in its use of multi-directional buckling structures sandwiched between a deformable outer shell and a stiff inner shell. The objective of this study was to develop a model of the VZ1 and to assess this unique characteristic for its role in mitigating head kinematics. The VZ1 model was developed using a bottom-up framework that emphasized material testing, constitutive model calibration, and component-level validation. Over 50 experimental tests were simulated to validate the VZ1 model. CORrelation and Analysis (CORA) was used to quantify the similarity between experimental and model head kinematics, neck forces, and impactor accelerations and forces. The VZ1 model demonstrated good correlation with an overall mean CORA score of 0.86. A parametric analysis on helmet compliance revealed that the outer shell and column stiffness influenced translational head kinematics more than rotational. For the material parameters investigated, head linear acceleration ranged from 80 to 220 g, whereas angular velocity ranged from 37 to 40 rad/s. This helmet model is open-source and serves as an in silico design platform for helmet innovation.

Language: en

Keywords

American football; Concussion; Parametric investigation; Research and development; Safety