A novel bio-inspired helmet with auxetic lattice liners for mitigating traumatic brain injury

Abstract The human head is most vulnerable to injury during activities such as road traffic and sports. To mitigate the risk of traumatic brain injury (TBI), helmets serve as an important protective device. This study proposes a hedgehog biomimetic helmet with auxetic lattice liners in the shape of a hemisphere. The helmeted head impact configuration is built based on a high bio-fidelity head-neck finite element model incorporated into our novel helmet model. Biomechanical responses including acceleration, intracranial pressure, and von Mises strain of head are extracted from the simulation model to assess TBI risks. The results indicate that the helmet featuring auxetic lattice liners outperforms those without liners or with other liner designs, offering superior protection. Compared to the threshold, the novel helmet design was found to reduce the head injury criterion value by 72.65%. Additionally, parametric studies of lattice’s bar radius for uniform and graded auxetic lattice liners are discussed. Finally, this study also carries out the optimization design of lattice strut radius and height, resulting in a lightweight auxetic lattice liner with superior protective performance. The outcomes of this study extend the application of auxetic materials and provide guidance for designing helmet liners that better mitigate TBI.