FINITE ELEMENT AND EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSES OF HEAD PROTECTIVE GEAR TO MITIGATE HEAD INJURIES DUE TO FALLS

FINITE ELEMENT AND EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSES OF HEAD PROTECTIVE GEAR TO MITIGATE HEAD INJURIES DUE TO FALLS

By Michael Alan Edgecomb II

Thesis Advisor: Dr. Vincent Caccese

A Lay Abstract of the Thesis Presented

in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the

Degree of Master of Science

(in Mechanical Engineering)

Dec, 2012

Keywords: Falls, Elderly, Headwear, Honeycomb, Dilatant

The University of Maine in cooperation with Alba-Technic LLC of Winthrop, Maine; is in the process of developing a product to mitigate head injuries due to falls within the elderly communities such as nursing homes and hospitals where a fall incident is potentially injurious or fatal.  The goal of this thesis work is to determine an optimal combination of honeycomb and dilatant materials for protective headwear that reduces the likelihood of injuries such as skull fracture and traumatic brain injury.  The work presented is part of a larger effort funded by the National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Aging where the focus is to develop protective headwear that is comfortable and socially acceptable among the elderly.   Our work leads to a new method of testing the headwear that would produce consistent results and be more representative of real life falls.  Also, through finite element analysis a combination of dilatant and honeycomb materials are optimized to produce the desired impact resistant at a minimal thickness.   Preliminary testing of the materials is presented.  The honeycombs have been manufactured in house using a patent pending method.  Dilatant materials are chosen from a line of protection materials, PORON® XRD™, developed by Rogers Corporation.  The materials are ultimately used in prototype headbands that are tested using the Hybrid III ATD head/neck apparatus.