Paper Example on Analysis of Helmet Lattice Liner Performance on Mitigating TBI

Introduction

Typically, the paper aims at evaluating the effects of topology and relative density of helmet lattice liner on mitigating Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Lattice liner stimulates the impact of motorcycle accidents during rational acceleration. Prismatic lattice performs better by preventing TBI and EPS used in Helmets. The size and the thickness of the liners help in improving the performance as the impact is marginal.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Q1. What observations did the scientists make leading up to this research study? (10 points).

Helmets are used in protecting an individual and reducing the risk of head injuries in case of accidents. They are typically used to prevent skull fracture and brain injuries. According to these researchers, head injuries are one of the common types of injuries sustained today. The research was to determine how these helmets could be improved rationally, allowing a wide range of lattice structures and mechanical properties to mitigate and reduce the risk of TBI. According to past studies, lattice structures have useful features in absorbing conventional energy. The conventional material has a cellular configuration as compared to lattice structures that are designed according to mechanical properties. This has contributed to founding a gap for the need for higher energy absorption efficiency experimented in this study.

Q2. State the specific hypothesis that is being tested in this experiment. (10 points).

The specific statement of prediction for this study is to make a cellular structure with unique and uniform cell sizes thickness. According to Khosroshahi et al. (2019), the structures would then be used in improving the level of helmets and hence reduce the risk of head injuries in comparison to an EPS liner. The scientists have observed the performance of lattice liners in helmets before, and the study finds out the effect of lattice topology and relative density on TBI mitigation.

Q3. Describe the experimental design including the control and treatment group(s) in this experiment. (10 points).

The research incorporates four lattice topologies into the helmet liner. These are prismatic, tetrahedral lattice. In this case, for lattice, the number of cells will change with the thickness and vary the sizes of the cells to attain the different densities. In comparing the response of the lattice with traditional EPS liner, the EPS foam loan is developed with a determined density. To incorporate the total impact of the human head’s helmet, a definite model is used. This model includes the muscles and the cervical spine. The Total Human Model for Safety (THUMS) is applied to examine the kinematics during acceleration (Khosroshahi et al., 2019). The control experiment groups, in this case, are the lattice liners, the total human body, the traumatic brain injury models, and oblique impacts conditions.

Q4. What are the dependent and independent variables in this experiment? (10 points)

Notably, the prismatic topology and the relative densities depend on the effects of acceleration. To determine the acceleration, the research has to consider the varying cell density across the thickness of the lattice liners (Khosroshahi et al., 2019). Therefore, acceleration is the dependent variable, while prismatic topology lattice liners are the independent variable. How much the cyclist will accelerate will depend on the nature of the lattice liners.

Q5. Summarize the results and the conclusions of the experiment. (10 points).

The force applied at the pick of linear acceleration has the same impact from the initiation. In comparison, the effect is associated with combined effects of the neck and regular forces. Prismatic lattice produces lower strains as compared to the tetrahedral lattice. From the experiment, varying the cell size across the liners lead to increased relative density for each topology. Those liners with lower relative densities have larger energy absorptions as compared to those with larger relative densities (Khosroshahi et al., 2019). By the use of lattice liner with four cells, the strain can be reduced significantly as compared to the EPS foam. This is so due to the driven capacity of the lattice liners and the energy distribution.

Q6. Analyze the research study. Address at least two of the following questions in your critique of the experiment (20 points): Were the test subjects and treatments relevant and appropriate? Was the sample size large enough? Were the methods used appropriately? Can you think of potential bias in a research study like this? What are the limitations of the conclusions made in this research study?

The research incorporates four main subjects, and each of them varies in cell sizes. With the subjects, it was easy to change the number of cells through the thickness to achieve different relative densities. This proves that the questions were appropriate with the correct sample size from the observed results. The methods used in the experiment were also suitable because they presented the effects of each variable to give accurate results. Yes, I got a potential bias for this experiment because even though it has shown the benefits of various topologies and how they can improve TBI prevention, I feel the level of energy absorption can still experiment further. This is one of the future limitation studies should put into consideration when performing similar experiments.

Q7. Discuss the relevance of this type of research, both for the world in general (10 points) and for you personally (10 points).

The research study is critical because it reflects a real-life situation. The study also educates helmet users on different structures and how the energy absorption varies from one layer to another. I have understood the differences and the impacts each of the examined samples, which I believe I have the correct knowledge to know the appropriate helmet I should use when cycling.

Reference

Khosroshahi, S. F., Duckworth, H., Galvanetto, U., & Ghajari, M. (2019). The effects of topology and relative density of lattice liners on traumatic brain injury mitigation. Journal of Biomechanics, 97, 109376.