A variety of mechanical headforms is used today in the evaluation of the crash worthiness of automotive interiors and the effectiveness of helmet designs. Most headforms are of a very rigid metallic construction, although frangible headforms that indicate skull fracture are presently available. None of the existing skull fracture are presently available. None of the existing headforms can be considered a complete mechanical analog to the human head in terms of mechanical response. This paper describes the initial phases of the development of such a headform. Proposed simple precursor models are described and a discussion of future, more complex models is given, along with the specific types of head injury phenomena that the model will be required to simulate.
Abstract