Energy dissipation of nanocomposite based helmets for blast-induced traumatic brain injury mitigation

Injuries caused to the head by ballistic shock waves during blast impacts are not well understood. It has been postulated that traumatic brain injury (TBI) can be caused when the blast wave causes the kinetic energy and the pressure in the main blood vessels to oscillate rapidly and travel to the brain thereby damaging the axonal fibers and neurons or with the direct wave transmission to the head. In the direct wave transmission, the severity of blast wave impact can be reduced by ballistic helmets. The ballistic helmets currently used in the military have been designed to provide protection against penetrating ballistic projectiles and their effectiveness against blast shock wave has not been thoroughly understood. This research would focus on developing a multiscale computational model of blast impact response of high-performance nanocomposite materials for the helmet, followed by estimation of blast energy transfer to the tissues in the human head. Such a combined atomistic-computational model of ballistic response of nanocomposites, coupled with a human morphology-specific computational model is necessary to study the mechanics of blast impact on human head.