Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
  • Publication
    The Influence of Impact Angle on the Dynamic Response of a Hybrid III Headform and Brain Tissue Deformation
    (ASTM International, 2014-03-12) ; ;
    The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of impact angle on the dynamic response of a Hybrid III headform and brain tissue deformation by impacting the front and side of the headform with four angle conditions (0° at the impact site and 5°, 10° and 15° counter-clockwise rotations from 0°) as well as three additional angles of -5°, -10° and -15° (clockwise rotations from 0°) at the side location to examine the effect of direction. The acceleration-time curves were used as input into a finite element model of the brain where maximum principal strain was calculated. The results from this study show that impact angle has an asymmetrical influence on headform dynamic responses and strain. An increase in impact angle tends to result in a growth of headform linear and rotational acceleration and maximum principal strain for the front location as well as the negative angles (0 to -15°) at the side, however varying trends were observed for the positive angles (from 0° to 15°) at the side. When developing sophisticated impact protocols and undertaking head injury reconstruction research, it is important to be aware of impact angle.
    Scopus© Citations 2  359
  • Publication
    A Comparison of the Head Dynamic Response and Brain Tissue Deformation from Impacts Resulting in Concussion, Concussion with Persistent Post-Concussive Symptoms, and Subdural Hematoma
    (American Association of Neurological Surgeons, 2015-08) ; ; ; ;
    Objective: Concussions typically resolve within a few days however in a few cases the symptoms last for a month or longer and are termed persistent post-concussive symptoms (PPCS) with more serious brain trauma resulting in bleeds, such as subdural hematoma (SDH). Dynamic response and brain tissue deformation characteristics may provide a means of distinguishing between these three types of injuries. Methods: Reconstruction cases were recruited from sports medicine clinics and hospitals along with medical reports, video footage, and medical imaging. All subjects received a direct blow to the head resulting in head trauma symptoms, those that resolved in 9 days were termed concussions, those with symptoms longer than 18 months were PPCS and those presenting with subdural hematoma (SDH). An anthropometric dummy headform was dropped onto various impact surfaces using a monorail drop rig. Headform dynamic response data was collected and used as input into the University College Dublin Brain Trauma Model to obtain maximum principal strain and von Mises stress. Results: Both linear and rotational acceleration of the head increased in magnitude with an increase in injury severity (from concussion, to PPCS, and SDH). The PPCS group had peak resultant rotational accelerations similar to SDH and significantly higher than concussions. There were no significant differences for peak resultant linear accelerations between the two concussion groups however they were both significantly lower than the SDH group. Brain tissue deformation measures however, did not follow the same trend as dynamic response and resulted with SDH having the lowest values of stress and strain. PPCS had significantly higher values of strain than the SDH group, where both the concussion and PPCS groups had significantly higher stress values than the SDH group. Conclusion: This study supports the notion that there is a positive relationship between an increase in the dynamic response and the risk for more serious brain injury. Peak resultant linear acceleration may be more related to SDH meanwhile rotational acceleration may be more relatedto severity of concussion. Despite SDH being the more severe brain injury, on average this group had the lowest values for stress and strain as compared to concussion and PPCS. Finite element analysis of the SDH injuries examined brain tissue values for the group of elements in the model than corresponded to the location of the bleed which may not be reflective of the highest values if the entire cerebrum was considered. More importantly, SDH injuries are vascular injuries and may not necessarily result in damage to the brain. In summary, this study found that the dynamic response of an impact is reflective of injury severity. Understanding the relationship between the dynamic response and the nature of the injury provides important information for developing strategies for injury prevention.
      342Scopus© Citations 43
  • Publication
    An examination of American football helmets using brain deformation metrics associated with concussion
    The sport of American football is associated with a high incidence of concussion, which research has identified may lead to long term neurological damage. As a result, it is important that protective technologies be developed to help mitigate the incidence of this type of brain trauma. This research examines how the design characteristics between different American football helmet models affect the linear and rotational acceleration responses as well as brain deformation metrics using a centric/non-centric impacting protocol. The protocol involved impacting the helmets at nine centric/non-centric sites. Brain deformation metrics were calculated using the University College Dublin Brain Trauma Model. The results revealed that design characteristics do influence the brain deformation metrics associated with incidence of concussion. Further analysis revealed that rotational acceleration was more related to brain deformation metrics than linear acceleration. These results show that when attempting to reduce brain deformation metrics, the development of rotational acceleration diminishing technologies may be beneficial. This research indicates that helmet design may be able to reduce the risk of concussive injury.
    Scopus© Citations 55  1568
  • Publication
    Examination of the relationship between peak linear and angular accelerations to brain deformation metrics in hockey helmet impacts
    (Informa UK (Taylor & Francis), 2013-05) ; ; ;
    Ice hockey is a contact sport which has a high incidence of brain injury. The current methods of evaluating protective devices use peak resultant linear acceleration as their pass/fail criteria, which are not fully representative of brain injuries as a whole. The purpose of this study was to examine how the linear and angular acceleration loading curves from a helmeted impact influence currently used brain deformation injury metrics. A helmeted Hybrid III headform was impacted in five centric and non-centric impact sites to elicit linear and angular acceleration responses. These responses were examined through the use of a brain model. The results indicated that when the helmet is examined using peak resultant linear acceleration alone, they are similar and protective, but when a 3D brain deformation response is used to examine the helmets, there are risks of brain injury with lower linear accelerations which would pass standard certifications for safety.
    Scopus© Citations 58  778
  • Publication
    The influence of impact angle on the dynamic response of a Hybrid III headform and brain tissue deformation
    The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of impact angle on the dynamic response of a Hybrid III headform and brain tissue deformation by impacting the front and side of the headform using four angle conditions (0°, at the impact site and 5, 10 and 15° rightward rotations of the headform from 0°) as well as three additional angle conditions of -5, - 10 and -15° (leftward rotations from 0°) at the side location to examine the effects of the neckform. The acceleration-time curves were used as input into a finite element model of the brain where maximum principal strain was calculated. The study found that an impact angle of 15° significantly influencesthe results when measured using linear and rotational acceleration and maximum principal strain. When developing sophisticated impact protocols and undertaking head injury reconstruction research, it is important to be aware of impact angle.
      452
  • Publication
    The influence of centric and non-centric impacts to American football helmets on the correlation between commonly metrics in brain injury research
    (International Research Council on the Biomechanics of Injury, 2012) ; ; ;
    Concussion has become recognized as an injury which can be a source of long term neurological damage. This has led to research into which metrics may be more appropriate to define risk of injury. Some researchers support the use of linear acceleration as a metric for concussion, while others suggest the use of linear and rotational acceleration as well as brain deformation metrics. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between these metrics using a centric and non‐centric impact protocol. A linear impactor was used to impact a Hybrid III headform fitted with different models of American football helmet using a centric and non‐centric protocol. The dynamic response was then used as input to the FE model for analysis of brain deformations. The results showed that linear acceleration was correlated to rotational acceleration and brain deformation for centric conditions, but under non‐centric conditions it was not. These results indicate that the type of methodology used will influence the relationship between the variables used to assign risk of concussion. These results also support the use of a centric/non‐centric protocol and measurement of rotational acceleration and brain deformation when it comes to the development of helmet technologies.
      364