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Football Helmet Drop Tests on Different Fields Using an Instrumented Hybrid III Head

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Abstract

An instrumented Hybrid III head was placed in a Schutt ION 4D football helmet and dropped on different turfs to study field types and temperature on head responses. The head was dropped 0.91 and 1.83 m giving impacts of 4.2 and 6.0 m/s on nine different football fields (natural, Astroplay, Fieldturf, or Gameday turfs) at turf temperatures of −2.7 to 23.9 °C. Six repeat tests were conducted for each surface at 0.3 m (1′) intervals. The Hybrid III was instrumented with triaxial accelerometers to determine head responses for the different playing surfaces. For the 0.91-m drops, peak head acceleration varied from 63.3 to 117.1 g and HIC15 from 195 to 478 with the different playing surfaces. The lowest response was with Astroplay, followed by the engineered natural turf. Gameday and Fieldturf involved higher responses. The differences between surfaces decreased in the 1.83 m tests. The cold weather testing involved higher accelerations, HIC15 and delta V for each surface. The helmet drop test used in this study provides a simple and convenient means of evaluating the compliance and energy absorption of football playing surfaces. The type and temperature of the playing surface influence head responses.

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Acknowledgments

The testing reported here was conducted by Biokinetics and Associates Ltd. and funded by the NFL. The opinions and views presented here are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NFL or any manufacturer of the playing surfaces. The authors appreciate the assistance of Dr. John Powell for arranging access to the MSU and WMU football fields.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ProBiomechanics LLC, 265 Warrington Rd, Bloomfield Hills, MI, 48304-2952, USA

    David C. Viano

  2. Biokinetics and Associates Ltd., 2470 Don Reid Drive, Ottawa, ON, K1H 1E1, Canada

    Chris Withnall & Michael Wonnacott

Authors
  1. David C. Viano
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  2. Chris Withnall
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  3. Michael Wonnacott
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Correspondence to David C. Viano.

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Associate Editor Stefan M. Duma oversaw the review of this article.

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Viano, D.C., Withnall, C. & Wonnacott, M. Football Helmet Drop Tests on Different Fields Using an Instrumented Hybrid III Head. Ann Biomed Eng 40, 97–105 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-011-0377-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-011-0377-3

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