Analysis of HIC and Hydrostatic Pressure in the Human Head during NOCSAE Tests of American Football Helmets
Brain damage is a serious economic and social burden. Contact sports such as American football, are one of the most common sources of concussions. The biomechanical response of the head–helmet system caused by dynamic loading plays a major role. The literature has focused on measuring the resultant...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-02-01
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| Series: | Brain Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/11/3/287 |
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| author | Mateusz Dymek Mariusz Ptak Monika Ratajczak Fábio A. O. Fernandes Artur Kwiatkowski Johannes Wilhelm |
| author_facet | Mateusz Dymek Mariusz Ptak Monika Ratajczak Fábio A. O. Fernandes Artur Kwiatkowski Johannes Wilhelm |
| author_sort | Mateusz Dymek |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Brain damage is a serious economic and social burden. Contact sports such as American football, are one of the most common sources of concussions. The biomechanical response of the head–helmet system caused by dynamic loading plays a major role. The literature has focused on measuring the resultant kinematics that act on the head and helmet during tackles. However, few studies have focused on helmet validation tests, supported by recent findings and emerging numerical approaches. The future of helmet standards could benefit from insights at the level of injury mechanisms, using numerical tools to assess the helmets. Therefore, in this work, a numerical approach is employed to investigate the influence of intracranial pressure (ICP) on brain pathophysiology during and after helmeted impacts, which are common in American football. The helmeted impacts were performed at several impact locations according to the NOCSAE standard (configurations A, AP, B, C, D, F, R, UT). In order to evaluate the ICP levels, the αHEAD finite element head and brain model was combined with a Hybrid III-neck structure and then coupled with an American football helmet to simulate the NOCSAE impacts. In addition, the ICP level was analyzed together with the resulting HIC value, since the latter is commonly used, in this application and others, as the injury criterion. The obtained results indicate that ICP values exceed the common threshold of head injury criteria and do not correlate with HIC values. Thus, this work raises concern about applying the HIC to predict brain injury in American football direct head impacts, since it does not correlate with ICP predicted with the FE head model. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T00:31:25Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5d45c855bd6540d9b3e0ccea1fbf2c3b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-3425 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T00:31:25Z |
| publishDate | 2021-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Brain Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-5d45c855bd6540d9b3e0ccea1fbf2c3b2023-12-11T18:27:25ZengMDPI AGBrain Sciences2076-34252021-02-0111328710.3390/brainsci11030287Analysis of HIC and Hydrostatic Pressure in the Human Head during NOCSAE Tests of American Football HelmetsMateusz Dymek0Mariusz Ptak1Monika Ratajczak2Fábio A. O. Fernandes3Artur Kwiatkowski4Johannes Wilhelm5Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Lukasiewicza 7/9, 50-371 Wroclaw, PolandFaculty of Mechanical Engineering, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Lukasiewicza 7/9, 50-371 Wroclaw, PolandFaculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Zielona Gora, ul. Szafrana 4, 65-516 Zielona Gora, PolandTEMA—Centre for Mechanical Technology and Automation, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Campus de Santiago, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, PortugalDepartment of Neurosurgery, Provincial Specialist Hospital in Legnica, ul. Iwaszkiewicza 5, 59-220 Legnica, PolandCFturbo GmbH, Unterer Kreuzweg 1, 01097 Dresden, GermanyBrain damage is a serious economic and social burden. Contact sports such as American football, are one of the most common sources of concussions. The biomechanical response of the head–helmet system caused by dynamic loading plays a major role. The literature has focused on measuring the resultant kinematics that act on the head and helmet during tackles. However, few studies have focused on helmet validation tests, supported by recent findings and emerging numerical approaches. The future of helmet standards could benefit from insights at the level of injury mechanisms, using numerical tools to assess the helmets. Therefore, in this work, a numerical approach is employed to investigate the influence of intracranial pressure (ICP) on brain pathophysiology during and after helmeted impacts, which are common in American football. The helmeted impacts were performed at several impact locations according to the NOCSAE standard (configurations A, AP, B, C, D, F, R, UT). In order to evaluate the ICP levels, the αHEAD finite element head and brain model was combined with a Hybrid III-neck structure and then coupled with an American football helmet to simulate the NOCSAE impacts. In addition, the ICP level was analyzed together with the resulting HIC value, since the latter is commonly used, in this application and others, as the injury criterion. The obtained results indicate that ICP values exceed the common threshold of head injury criteria and do not correlate with HIC values. Thus, this work raises concern about applying the HIC to predict brain injury in American football direct head impacts, since it does not correlate with ICP predicted with the FE head model.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/11/3/287brain injuryfinite element head modelAmerican footballhelmethelmet testingbiomechanics |
| spellingShingle | Mateusz Dymek Mariusz Ptak Monika Ratajczak Fábio A. O. Fernandes Artur Kwiatkowski Johannes Wilhelm Analysis of HIC and Hydrostatic Pressure in the Human Head during NOCSAE Tests of American Football Helmets Brain Sciences brain injury finite element head model American football helmet helmet testing biomechanics |
| title | Analysis of HIC and Hydrostatic Pressure in the Human Head during NOCSAE Tests of American Football Helmets |
| title_full | Analysis of HIC and Hydrostatic Pressure in the Human Head during NOCSAE Tests of American Football Helmets |
| title_fullStr | Analysis of HIC and Hydrostatic Pressure in the Human Head during NOCSAE Tests of American Football Helmets |
| title_full_unstemmed | Analysis of HIC and Hydrostatic Pressure in the Human Head during NOCSAE Tests of American Football Helmets |
| title_short | Analysis of HIC and Hydrostatic Pressure in the Human Head during NOCSAE Tests of American Football Helmets |
| title_sort | analysis of hic and hydrostatic pressure in the human head during nocsae tests of american football helmets |
| topic | brain injury finite element head model American football helmet helmet testing biomechanics |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/11/3/287 |
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