Date of Thesis

Spring 2025

Description

Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), including concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), remain a major concern across contact sports, military operations, and transportation. Despite advancements in protective equipment, current strategies often fall short in preventing the mechanical conditions that contribute to long-term neurological damage. This thesis presents the design and validation of a bioinspired impact mitigation system modeled after bighorn sheep horn structures, which have evolved to endure high-energy collisions without apparent brain injury.

Using biomimetic principles, the research integrates experimental and computational methods to evaluate how horn-like geometries reduce impact-induced accelerations. A custom drop tower was built to test dynamic responses of spiral structures mimicking horn morphology. Acceleration, force, and displacement data were collected using an accelerometer, load cell, and high-speed cameras. Finite element simulations in Abaqus/Explicit were calibrated against physical tests to explore a range of parameters, including spiral curl, lateral excursion, material stiffness, and horn-core configurations.

Experimental results showed that while both horn and spherical geometries experienced increased acceleration with higher drop heights, the horn-like structures exhibited expected lateral motion and damped oscillations. Validated simulations enabled deeper parametric analysis, revealing that geometry and material variations directly influenced acceleration attenuation and energy dissipation. Certain configurations showed significant reductions in peak acceleration and reaction force.

This work lays the foundation for biologically inspired engineering solutions to impact mitigation. The combined use of physical validation and scalable modeling supports future development of advanced protective systems in helmets, vehicles, and wearable devices aimed at preventing TBI and CTE.

Keywords

bioinspired design, impact mitigation, traumatic brain injury, bighorn sheep horns, finite element analysis, experimental biomechanics

Access Type

Masters Thesis

Degree Type

Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering

Major

Mechanical Engineering

First Advisor

Benjamin B Wheatley

Comments

This thesis combines experimental biomechanics and finite element modeling to evaluate bioinspired impact mitigation strategies derived from bighorn sheep horn structures. It addresses traumatic brain injury (TBI) prevention through novel geometric configurations and material analysis, with applications in helmet design, vehicle safety systems, and wearable protective gear. The work bridges mechanical engineering and biological design to advance the development of scalable, nature-informed protective technologies.

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