Novel instrumentation and models for biomechanical assessment of engineered protection devices

头部和脑部损伤影响社会各阶层：普通平民；军事人员;执法人员；以及青年、成人、业余和专业运动员。在民用环境中，头部受伤是由于汽车碰撞和运动事故中的钝器撞击造成的。在军事和执法中，它们可能发生在钝器撞击，头盔上的弹道撞击，以及暴露在爆炸物的爆炸中。总的来说，颅脑损伤导致数十亿美元的社会成本以及受伤个体的长期痛苦。******工程师在理解和设计头部保护装置（即头盔）的工程保护装置方面发挥着至关重要的作用。保护头部的能力是用两类模型来测试的。第一种是金属橡胶实验模型，它依赖于参数的测量，包括（但不限于）冲击加速度或爆炸压力，通过量化保护装置对这些加速度或压力的限制程度，可以在不同程度上准确估计保护效果。第二种是计算机模型，通过估计防止对人体产生影响的冲击或爆炸能量的大小来努力估计防护能力。计算机模型需要验证，以确保其输出具有现实性，到目前为止，它们没有广泛用于保护装置的标准化认证和评估，部分原因是它们的验证正在进行中。实验模型广泛应用于标准化测试和认证中，但它们经常被批评为对人类的不良模型。后一种担忧源于这样一个事实，即大多数机器人都是为了在机械上健壮和可重用而构建的，因此在许多情况下，它们不能准确地模拟相对脆弱的人类的反应。******拟议的计划通过开发机械逼真的实验模型和先进的仪器来解决这些限制，量化机械暴露于冲击和爆炸的缓解。为了防止这些伤害，同时试图减轻头盔佩戴者的身体负担，保护性头盔正在开发新颖的材料结构，力求轻量化，同时保持保护效果。防止机械冲击和爆炸能量的转移是头套设计的核心目标，因此准确的机械模型和仪器在评估中至关重要。

Head and brain injury affects all sectors of society: everyday civilians; military personnel; law enforcement personnel; and youth, adult, amateur and professional athletes. In civilian settings, head injuries occur through blunt impact in automotive collisions and sport incidents. In military and law enforcement, they can occur from blunt impact, ballistic impacts on helmets, and exposure to blast from explosives. Taken together, head-brain injury leads to societal costs of $Billions as well as long term suffering in the injured individual.******Engineers play a vital role in understanding, and indeed in designing engineered protection devices for, head protection devices (i.e. helmets). The ability to protect the head is tested using models that fall into one of two categories. The first is metal-rubber experimental models that rely on measurements of parameters including (but not limited to) acceleration due to impact, or pressure in blast, that to varying degrees of accuracy can estimate protection by quantifying how well the protection device limits these accelerations or pressures. The second is computer models that strive to estimate capacity for protection by estimating the amount of impact or blast energy prevented from affecting the human. Computer models require validation to ensure that their outputs exhibit realism and as of now they are not widely used in standardized certification and assessment of protection devices partially because their validation is ongoing. Experimental models are widespread and used in standardized testing and certification, however they are often criticized as poor models for the human. This latter concern stems from the fact that most are constructed to be mechanically robust and re-usable, and as a result they don't, in many cases, accurately model the response of the relatively frailer human. ******The proposed program addresses these limitations by developing mechanically realistic experimental models and advanced instrumentation that quantify mitigation in mechanical exposure to impact and blast. To protect against these injuries while attempting to lessen the physical burden of the headgear-wearer, protective headgear is being developed with novel material architectures that strive for light-weight while retaining protective efficacy. Preventing transfer of mechanical impact and blast energy is the central goal behind headgear design, and therefore accurate mechanical models and instrumentation are vital in their assessment.