Development of a helmet liner for protection against blast induced trauma

Traumatic brain injuries caused by shock waves have attracted increased medical and scientific attention due to the large percentage of combat troops that have sustained such injuries in recent conflict theatres. To this day, the knowledge in the fields of causes, effects and identification of traumatic brain injury is limited. The use of advanced body armor has decreased the number of fatalities from fragments observed in previous military operations, resulting in the increase of non-fatal brain injuries from shock waves. The purpose of this project is the advancement of the knowledge in the field of shock wave mitigation strategies and the development of a helmet liner for protection against blast induced trauma. The proposed helmet liner design is based on the introduction of solid and fluid filler materials inside channels opened in the interior of a foam liner in order to enhance the attenuation of incoming shock waves. Primary investigated attenuation mechanisms include acoustic impedance mismatches between the filler and foam material interfaces, viscous effects of fluid fillers, porosity and particle size of solid filler materials. Specific goals of this research project include the reduction of the peak pressure and pressure gradient of the transmitted wave through the helmet liner and the enhancement of the spatial distribution of the energy of the incoming shock wave.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2010

Author dc:creator

• Christou, George Alexander

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Laurence R. Young.

• Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/58280

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/58280