Development and validation of a biofidelic numerical head model for the evaluation of the risk on behind-helmet blunt trauma

As the risk on BHBT is considerably increasing, it is becoming more and more important to investigate the origins of BHBT and to develop suitable mitigation strategies for implementation in future ballistic helmet designs. Unfortunately, so far, a clear injury criterion linked to a simple test setup is currently lacking and testing ‘in vivo’ is for obvious reasons not possible. The typical solution then is to use biofidelic finite element models of the human body, in casu the head, to virtually asses the risk. However, there is currently no validated head model available for the specific case of investigating BHBT. Several head models developed for other applications (crash, blunt impact, bicycle helmets…) have recently been used to simulate BHBT events, but none of these has been specifically validated for this application, mostly since quantified data on BHBT has only relatively recently starting to appear in the open literature.
Recently, the Department of Weapon Systems and Ballistics developed its own virtual head model for assessing less-lethal projectile impacts. By combining this model with the knowledge obtained in the field of helmet design and testing, and the recent publications on primary data for BHBT (i.e. based on PMHS or biofidelic surrogate testing), there is now an opportunity to be (one of the) first institutes to develop and obtain a virtual head model for the specific application of assessing the risk on behind-helmet blunt trauma.

The project MSP/22-01 is financed under the DFR call.