Citation

Chang CH, Chang LT, Chang GL, Huang SC, Wang CH. J. Biomech. Eng. 2000; 122(6): 640-646.

Affiliation

Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Chung Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2000, American Society of Mechanical Engineers)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

11192386

Abstract

The chin bar of a motorcycle helmet protects the rider from facial and head injuries. To evaluate the protective performance of chin bars against head injuries from facial impacts, an explicit finite element method was used to simulate the Snell Memorial Foundation test and a proposed drop test. The maximum acceleration and Head Injury Criterion (HIC) were employed to assess the impact-absorbing capability of the chin bar. The results showed that the proposed approach should be more practical than the Snell test, and provided more information for improving the chin bar design to protect against head injuries. The shell stiffness was important in determining the protective ability of the chin bar, but a chin bar with only an outer shell and comfort foam offered inadequate protection. An energy-absorbing liner was essential to increase the protective performance of the chin bar and the liner density should be denser than that used in the cranial portion of the helmet. For the chin bar with energy-absorbing liner, a shell design that is less stiff would provide better protection.