VALIDATION OF AN ACH HELMET FOR HEAD INJURY RISK ASSESSMENT

The development of new lightweight, high performance composite materials for ballistic applications has enabled the development of new helmet types to better protect military personnel from fragments and small caliber projectiles. However, a disadvantage of these lightweight helmets is the increase of the backface deformation (BFD) of the helmet shell, which also can increase the risk of Behind Helmet Blunt Trauma (BHBT)that can impair the soldier's performance and even endanger his life. Therefore, a BHBT injury risk assessment is required before any helmet is put into service. For further injury risk assessment for a protected head using validated head finite element model, this paper presents the first results of the validation of the Advanced Combat Helmet (ACH) model when impacted by 9 mm Full Metal Jacket (FMJ) ammunition using experimental results found in the literature.