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  5. The effect of the scalp on the effectiveness of bicycle helmets' anti-rotational acceleration technologies
 
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The effect of the scalp on the effectiveness of bicycle helmets' anti-rotational acceleration technologies

Author(s)
Zouzias, Dimitris  
De Bruyne, Guido  
Ní Annaidh, Aisling  
Trotta, Antonia  
Ivens, Jan  
Uri
http://hdl.handle.net/10197/26103
Date Issued
2021
Date Available
2024-05-30T15:51:02Z
Abstract
Objective: Medical data has lead to the common understanding that bicycle helmets need to be improved to better protect against brain injuries resulting from rotational acceleration. Although many different technologies exist for reducing rotational acceleration during impacts, the lack of an official testing standard means that their evaluation is based on customized set-ups that may differ and not represent real accident conditions. Previously, the authors have shown that scalp tissue plays an important role during helmet testing by absorbing energy and creating a low friction interface between head and helmet, thus reducing rotational accelerations and velocities. However, no published study has yet examined the effectiveness of anti-rotational helmet technologies in the presence of a biofidelic scalp layer. The objective of this study is to address this gap. Methods: Three different commercially available helmet models, each one equipped with a different technology, were tested in the presence of scalp tissue, in two different scenarios; with and without the technology present. The effectiveness of each of these technologies is already documented in other studies, but only in the absence of a biofidelic scalp layer. Tests were carried out using HIII headform with porcine scalp attached to the outmost layer. Motion tracking was used to compare the impact kinematics of each helmet model in both scenarios. Results: Results showed that when a biofidelic scalp layer is present, there is no statistical difference between helmet models with and without the anti-rotational technology in terms of rotational acceleration, velocity, relative rotation, impact duration and injury risk. Conclusions: Results suggest that the presence of the scalp can obscure the functionality of anti-rotational acceleration technologies. This could indicate that the effectiveness of technologies tested in previous studies, which have not tested anti-rotational acceleration technologies in the presence of a realistic scalp layer, may exaggerate the contribution of such technologies if compared with a more biofidelic set-up. The study supports the fact that headforms should be better designed by incorporating artificial skin layers that can better imitate scalp’s behavior and, in addition, provides insights for the design of technologies against rotational acceleration.
Sponsorship
European Commission Horizon 2020
Type of Material
Journal Article
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Journal
Traffic Injury Prevention
Volume
22
Issue
1
Start Page
51
End Page
56
Copyright (Published Version)
2020 Taylor & Francis
Subjects

Transportation

Head injuries

Scalp

Bicycle helmet

Standard tests

Friction coefficient

Rotational accelerati...

DOI
10.1080/15389588.2020.1841179
Language
English
Status of Item
Peer reviewed
ISSN
1538-9588
This item is made available under a Creative Commons License
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ie/
File(s)
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Name

Manuscript - 2020_10_14.pdf

Size

1.07 MB

Format

Adobe PDF

Checksum (MD5)

ac1d4390b6c531f701100de2481e942e

Owning collection
Mechanical & Materials Engineering Research Collection

Item descriptive metadata is released under a CC-0 (public domain) license: https://creativecommons.org/public-domain/cc0/.
All other content is subject to copyright.

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