New motorcycle helmets are designed with metal foam shell and their impact behaviour has been studied. Impact experiments have been performed on a first set of prototype helmets with metal foam shell at standard impact locations. Numerical simulations are performed and the predicted headform acceleration is validated with experimental data. The biomechanical characteristics of head impact were studied with both metal foam and ABS helmets. The helmet with metal foam shell performed reasonably well compared to ABS helmet.
Keywords:
Helmets; Metal foam shell; Biomechanics; Impact tests; Finite elements