Football is a much loved sport in the United States. Unfortunately, it is also hard on the players and puts them at very high risk of concussion. To combat this an inventor in Santa Barbara brought a new design to Cal Poly to be tested.
The design was tested in small scale first in order to make some preliminary conclusions about the design. In order to fully test the helmet design; however, full scale testing was required. In order to carry out this testing a drop tower was built based on National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment, NOCSAE, specification. The drop tower designed for Cal Poly is a lower cost and highly portable version of the standard NOCSAE design. Using this drop tower and a 3D printed prototype the new design was tested in full scale.
","abstract_html":"<p>Football is a much loved sport in the United States. Unfortunately, it is also hard on the players and puts them at very high risk of concussion. To combat this an inventor in Santa Barbara brought a new design to Cal Poly to be tested.</p> <p>The design was tested in small scale first in order to make some preliminary conclusions about the design. In order to fully test the helmet design; however, full scale testing was required. In order to carry out this testing a drop tower was built based on National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment, NOCSAE, specification. The drop tower designed for Cal Poly is a lower cost and highly portable version of the standard NOCSAE design. Using this drop tower and a 3D printed prototype the new design was tested in full scale.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Schuster, Michael Jeremy"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"MS in Mechanical Engineering","degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":"Mechanical Engineering","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Peter J. Schuster"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2016,"date_issued":"2016-06-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2016-06-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:32:50Z","subjects":["Football","Helmet","Testing","NOCSAE","Impact","Drop Tower","Acoustics, Dynamics, and Controls","Applied Mechanics","Biomechanics","Computer-Aided Engineering and Design","Electro-Mechanical Systems"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["10.15368/theses.2016.68"],"render_values":[{"text":"10.15368/theses.2016.68","href":"https://doi.org/10.15368/theses.2016.68","code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/1596","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Peter J. Schuster"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Schuster, Michael Jeremy"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2016-06-09T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Mechanical Engineering"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["MS in Mechanical Engineering"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Football","Helmet","Testing","NOCSAE","Impact","Drop Tower","Acoustics, Dynamics, and Controls","Applied Mechanics","Biomechanics","Computer-Aided Engineering and Design","Electro-Mechanical Systems"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/1596","10.15368/theses.2016.68"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Football is a much loved sport in the United States. Unfortunately, it is also hard on the players and puts them at very high risk of concussion. To combat this an inventor in Santa Barbara brought a new design to Cal Poly to be tested.
The design was tested in small scale first in order to make some preliminary conclusions about the design. In order to fully test the helmet design; however, full scale testing was required. In order to carry out this testing a drop tower was built based on National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment, NOCSAE, specification. The drop tower designed for Cal Poly is a lower cost and highly portable version of the standard NOCSAE design. Using this drop tower and a 3D printed prototype the new design was tested in full scale.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Physical Testing of Potential Football Helmet Design Enhancements"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Peter J. Schuster"],"dc:creator":["Schuster, Michael Jeremy"],"dc:date.available":["2016-06-09T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Football is a much loved sport in the United States. Unfortunately, it is also hard on the players and puts them at very high risk of concussion. To combat this an inventor in Santa Barbara brought a new design to Cal Poly to be tested.
The design was tested in small scale first in order to make some preliminary conclusions about the design. In order to fully test the helmet design; however, full scale testing was required. In order to carry out this testing a drop tower was built based on National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment, NOCSAE, specification. The drop tower designed for Cal Poly is a lower cost and highly portable version of the standard NOCSAE design. Using this drop tower and a 3D printed prototype the new design was tested in full scale.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/1596","10.15368/theses.2016.68"],"dc:subject":["Football","Helmet","Testing","NOCSAE","Impact","Drop Tower","Acoustics, Dynamics, and Controls","Applied Mechanics","Biomechanics","Computer-Aided Engineering and Design","Electro-Mechanical Systems"],"dc:title":["Physical Testing of Potential Football Helmet Design Enhancements"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Mechanical Engineering"],"thesis:degree_name":["MS in Mechanical Engineering"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:32:50Z"}