The scientific community is deeply concerned about the social impacts stemming from the consequences of Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs). Therefore, Anti-Rotational Technologies (ART) were designed to mitigate TBI severity. Advanced helmet testing, involving standard rigid headforms and numerical models of the human head, faces challenges regarding biofidelity and validation against rare cadaver data. The present study uses an innovative Instrumented Human Head Replica (IHHR), including cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), meninges, and brain simulants, to tackle biofidelity concerns. The IHHR assesses severity of impacts using embedded brain and skull pressure sensors, accelerometers, and gyros. Protected drop tests were conducted from three heights, incorporating ART and balaclava, onto an inclined anvil with a motorcycle helmet. A significant height-dependent reduction in Brain Injury Criterion (BrIC) with ART was shown (p-value≤0.001), while balaclava effects were not significant. The observed relative skull-brain motion was affected by ART (p-value≤0.001) and drop height (pvalue=0.003). CSF pressures were significantly affected by ART and balaclava (p-values≤0.01), showing an increase in the coup duration and a decrease in pressure peaks with ART. These findings highlight the potential of the IHHR as a valuable tool for estimating the effect of ART on the severity of TBIs, allowing the calculation of injury criteria.
Keywords:
Helmet; Human Head Replica; protection effectiveness; rotational impacts; CSF pressure