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Potential improvement in helmet blast-protection via the use of a polyurea external coating: Combined experimental/computational analyses

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Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part L: Journal of Materials: Design and Applications

Published online on

Abstract

The Advanced Combat Helmet (ACH) currently in use is designed for maximum protection against ballistic impacts and hard-surface collisions. It has been well-established now that the ACH provides relatively little protection against blast, and that a significant fraction of the soldiers returning from the recent conflicts suffer from traumatic brain injury (TBI). In the present work, an augmentation of the ACH, which involves the use of a polyurea (a nano-segregated elastomeric copolymer)-based external coating for improved blast protection is considered. To test the utility of this approach, blast experiments are carried out on instrumented head-mannequins. Three configurations of the head-mannequins are investigated: (i) unprotected; (ii) protected using a standard ACH; and (iii) protected using an augmented ACH. To provide additional insight into the problem of blast-wave interaction with a head-mannequin, a series of complementary combined Eulerian/Lagrangian transient non-linear dynamics computational fluid/solid interaction finite-element analyses is carried out. The results obtained clearly demonstrated that the use of the augmented ACH affects (generally in a beneficial way) head-mannequin dynamic loading and kinematic response as quantified by the intra-cranial pressure, impulse, acceleration, and jolt.