Case Study: MIT Man-Vehicle Laboratory achieves improved helmet liner designs that reduce traumatic brain injury risk from blasts with Dassault Systèmes' Abaqus

MIT - Customer Case Study

MIT’s Man-Vehicle Laboratory confronted the challenge of reducing traumatic brain injury from blast exposure by improving the Advanced Combat Helmet (ACH) liner. Needing a fast-to-learn, well-documented finite element analysis tool that could handle nonlinear contact and blast wave physics, the team selected Abaqus from Dassault Systemes to simulate helmet, liner, and head interactions without risking human subjects.

Using Dassault Systemes’ Abaqus (including CONWEP and Coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian capabilities), MIT simulated simplified liner and helmet–head models and benchmarked multiple filler materials—foam, glass beads, aerogel, water, and glycerin—then validated results with Purdue shock‑tube tests. The simulations showed glass beads, water, and glycerin produced the lowest transmitted peak pressures (glass beads reduced peak pressure by about 80% versus solid foam), provided good agreement with experimental rise times and loading, and helped prioritize materials and designs more efficiently while reducing the need for hazardous physical testing.

MIT

Andrew Vechart

Researcher