Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Development of Open-Source Dummy and Impactor Models for the Assessment of American Football Helmet Finite Element Models

  • Published:
Annals of Biomedical Engineering Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The objective of this study was to develop and validate a set of Hybrid-III head and neck (HIII-HN) and impactor models that can be used to assess American football design modifications with established dummy-based injury metrics. The model was validated in two bare-head impact test configurations used by the National Football League and research groups to rank and assess helmet performance. The first configuration was a rigid pendulum impact to three locations on the HIII head (front, rear, side) at 3 m/s. The second configuration was a set of eight 5.5 m/s impacts to the HIII head at different locations using a linear impactor with a compliant end cap. The ISO/TS 18571 objective rating metric was used to quantify the correlation between the experimental and model head kinematics (linear and rotational velocity and acceleration) and neck kinetics (neck force and moment). The HIII-HN model demonstrated good correlation with overall mean ISO scores of 0.69–0.78 in the pendulum impacts and 0.65–0.81 in the linear impacts. These publically available models will serve as an in silico design platform that will be useful for investigating novel football helmet designs and studying human head impact biomechanics, in general.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Alshareef, A., J. S. Giudice, J. Forman, R. S. Salzar, and M. B. Panzer. A novel method for quantifying human in situ whole brain deformation under rotational loading using sonomicrometry. J. Neurotrauma 35:780–789, 2018.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Barbat, S., Y. Fu, Z. Zhan, R.-J. Yang, and C. Gehre. Objective rating metric for dynamic systems. Enhanc. Saf. Veh. Seoul Repub. Korea, 2013. http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/ESV/esv23/23ESV-000448.pdf.

  3. Bartsch, A., E. Benzel, V. Miele, and V. Prakash. Impact test comparisons of 20th and 21st century American football helmets: laboratory investigation. J. Neurosurg. 116:222–233, 2012.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Beckwith, J. G., R. M. Greenwald, and J. J. Chu. Measuring head kinematics in football: correlation between the head impact telemetry system and hybrid III headform. Ann. Biomed. Eng. 40:237–248, 2011.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Chang, L.-T., G.-L. Chang, J.-Z. Huang, S.-C. Huang, D.-S. Liu, and C.-H. Chang. Finite element analysis of the effect of motorcycle helmet materials against impact velocity. J. Chin. Inst. Eng. 26:835–843, 2003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Cobb, B. R., A. M. Zadnik, and S. Rowson. Comparative analysis of helmeted impact response of Hybrid III and National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment headforms. Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng. Part P J. Sports Eng. Technol. 230:50–60, 2016.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Davis, M. L., B. Koya, J. M. Schap, and F. S. Gayzik. Development and full body validation of a 5th percentile female finite element model. Stapp Car Crash J. 60:509, 2016.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Funk, J. R., J. Crandall, M. Wonnacott, and C. Withnall. NFL Linear impactor helmet test protocol, 2017. http://biocorellc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/NFL-linear-impact-helmet-test-protocol.pdf.

  9. Funk, J., R. Quesada, A. Miles, and J. Crandall. Inertial properties of football helmets. J. Biomech. Eng. 140(6):061001-1–061001-9, 2018.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Gabler, L. F., J. R. Crandall, and M. B. Panzer. Development of a metric for predicting brain strain responses using head kinematics. Ann. Biomed. Eng. 46:972–985, 2018.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Gehre, C., H. Gades, and P. Wernicke. Objective rating of signals using test and simulation responses. Proceedings of the 21th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles Conference (ESV), Stuttgart, Germany, paper 09-0407, 2009.

  12. Hallquist, J. O. LS-DYNA keyword user’s manual. Livermore Softw. Technol. Corp. 970, 2007.

  13. Hodgson, V. R. National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment football helmet certification program. Med. Sci. Sports 7:225–232, 1975.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Kaleps, I., R. P. White Jr., R. M. Beecher, J. Whitestone, and L. A. Obergefell. Measurement of hybrid III dummy properties and analytical simulation data base development. Harry G Armstrong Aerospace Medical Research Lab Wright-Patterson AFB, OH, 1988.

  15. Kaleps, I., and J. Whitestone. Hybrid III geometrical and inertial properties. SAE Technical Paper, 1988.

  16. Kostopoulos, V., Y. P. Markopoulos, G. Giannopoulos, and D. E. Vlachos. Finite element analysis of impact damage response of composite motorcycle safety helmets. Compos. Part B Eng. 33:99–107, 2002.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Mills, N. J., and A. Gilchrist. Finite-element analysis of bicycle helmet oblique impacts. Int. J. Impact Eng. 35:1087–1101, 2008.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Mills, N. J., S. Wilkes, S. Derler, and A. Flisch. FEA of oblique impact tests on a motorcycle helmet. Int. J. Impact Eng. 36:913–925, 2009.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Mustafa, H., T. Y. Pang, T. Perret-Ellena, and A. Subic. Finite element bicycle helmet models development. Procedia Technol. 20:91–97, 2015.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. National Football League (NFL). 2017 Helmet Laboratory Testing Performance Results., 2017. https://www.playsmartplaysafe.com/resource/helmet-laboratory-testing-performance-results/.

  21. National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE). Standard test method and equipment used in evaluating the performance characteristics of headgear/equipment (NOCSAE Doc. (ND)002-17m17a), 2017.

  22. Newman, J. A., M. C. Beusenberg, N. Shewchenko, C. Withnall, and E. Fournier. Verification of biomechanical methods employed in a comprehensive study of mild traumatic brain injury and the effectiveness of American football helmets. J. Biomech. 38:1469–1481, 2005.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. NHTSA. TP 208-14: Part 572E (50th Male) Dummy Performance Calibration Test Procedure Appendix A, 2008.

  24. Pellman, E. J., D. C. Viano, A. M. Tucker, I. R. Casson, and J. F. Waeckerle. Concussion in professional football: reconstruction of game impacts and injuries. Neurosurgery 53:799–814, 2003.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Pellman, E. J., D. C. Viano, C. Withnall, N. Shewchenko, C. A. Bir, and P. D. Halstead. Concussion in professional football: helmet testing to assess impact performance—part 11. Neurosurgery 58:78–95, 2006.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Rowson, S., and S. M. Duma. Brain injury prediction: assessing the combined probability of concussion using linear and rotational head acceleration. Ann. Biomed. Eng. 41:873–882, 2013.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  27. Rowson, B., S. Rowson, and S. M. Duma. Hockey STAR: a methodology for assessing the biomechanical performance of hockey helmets. Ann. Biomed. Eng. 43:2429–2443, 2015.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  28. SAE. User’s Manual for the 50th Percentile Male Hybrid III Test Dummy, 1998.

  29. SAE, S. J211-1 Instrumentation for Impact Test—Part 1—Electronic Instrumentation. SAE Int., 2007.

  30. Spittle, E. K., D. J. Miller, B. W. Shipley Jr, and I. Kaleps. Hybrid II and hybrid III dummy neck properties for computer modeling. Armstrong Lab Wright-Patterson AFB, OH, 1992.

  31. Takhounts, E. G., M. J. Craig, K. Moorhouse, J. McFadden, and V. Hasija. Development of brain injury criteria (Br IC). Stapp Car Crash J. 57:243–266, 2013.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Teng, T.-L., C.-L. Liang, and V.-H. Nguyen. Development and validation of finite element model of helmet impact test. J. Des. Appl. 227:82–88, 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  33. Viano, D. C., and E. J. Pellman. Concussion in professional football: biomechanics of the striking player—part 8. Neurosurgery 56:266–280, 2005.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Viano, D. C., C. Withnall, and D. Halstead. Impact performance of modern football helmets. Ann. Biomed. Eng. 40:160–174, 2012.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Viano, D. C., C. Withnall, and M. Wonnacott. Football helmet drop tests on different fields using an instrumented hybrid III head. Ann. Biomed. Eng. 40:97–105, 2012.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  36. Wood, G. W., M. B. Panzer, C. R. Bass, and B. S. Myers. Viscoelastic properties of hybrid III head skin. SAE Int. J. Mater. Manuf. 3:186–193, 2010.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The research presented in this paper was made possible by a grant from Football Research, Inc. (FRI) and Biomechanics Consulting and Research, LLC (Biocore). The views expressed are solely those of the authors and do not represent those of Biocore, FRI, or any of their affiliates or funding sources. The authors would like to thank our collaborators in the “Engineering Roadmap: Numerical Crowdsourcing Project” for their support and feedback of this work (teams from Wake Forest University, University of Waterloo, and KTH Royal Institute of Technology). The authors also acknowledge Virginia Tech Helmet Lab and BioKinetics and Associates, Ltd. for generating the pendulum and linear impactor test data.

Conflict of interest

Co-author Kent is co-owner of Biomechanics Consulting and Research, LLC (Biocore). All other authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Center for Applied Biomechanics, University of Virginia, 4040 Lewis and Clark Dr., Charlottesville, VA, 22911, USA

    J. Sebastian Giudice, Kevin Kong, Richard Kent & Matthew B. Panzer

  2. Biomechanics Consulting and Research (Biocore), LLC, 1621 Quail Run, Charlottesville, VA, 22911, USA

    Gwansik Park, Ann Bailey & Richard Kent

Authors
  1. J. Sebastian Giudice
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Gwansik Park
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Kevin Kong
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Ann Bailey
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Richard Kent
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Matthew B. Panzer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Matthew B. Panzer.

Additional information

Associate Editor Jane Grande-Allen oversaw the review of this article.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (PDF 471 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Giudice, J.S., Park, G., Kong, K. et al. Development of Open-Source Dummy and Impactor Models for the Assessment of American Football Helmet Finite Element Models. Ann Biomed Eng 47, 464–474 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-018-02155-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-018-02155-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation