An investigation into the thermal comfort of a conceptual helmet model using finite element analysis and 3D computational fluid dynamics

The computational studies revealed trends between the general hole locations and the local ventilation efficiency, as well as differences between the individual concepts tested for each location. Key findings include holes at the rear being the most beneficial to overall helmet ventilation when compared to front and side holes. Furthermore, all hole locations were found to predominantly affect the flow speeds in the central and upper frontal regions of the helmet, with little impact on the parietal and occipital lobe regions. The best hole configurations were found to be three holes, one hole and two holes for the front, back and side locations respectively. It was shown that combining the strongest individual concept designs does not necessarily lead to a superior helmet design in terms of ventilation performance.