{"424521":{"#nid":"424521","#data":{"type":"news","title":"AE researchers find a whole new way to watch the Super Bowl","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFor four students who took aerospace professor Massimo Ruzzene\u2019s graduate course in experimental structural dynamics last fall, the Super Bowl was a whole new ball game.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EInstead of rooting for the Broncos or the Seahawks, they were rooting for the helmets that get banged, bounced and beaten during the course of the game.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThey can blame this game-changer on a class project, \u201cDynamic Characterization of a Football Helmet\u201d which they initially completed for Ruzzene in December but are now preparing to present before the Society for Experimental Mechanics this June.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cUsually, when I teach this class, we use a laser vibrometer to measure the motion on a flat surface or a beam. But that\u2019s very easy, and not like anything they would have to solve on their own. I wanted something that would test their problem-solving abilities,\u201d said Ruzzene.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ctable width=\u0022200\u0022 border=\u00220\u0022 cellspacing=\u00221\u0022 cellpadding=\u00225\u0022 align=\u0022right\u0022\u003E\u003Ctbody\u003E\u003Ctr\u003E\u003Ctd\u003E\u003C\/td\u003E\u003C\/tr\u003E\u003Ctr\u003E\u003Ctd class=\u0022rtecenter\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cem\u003ERuzzene and his researchers with a standard football helmet\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/td\u003E\u003C\/tr\u003E\u003C\/tbody\u003E\u003C\/table\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cSo I took a football helmet, a curved surface, and told them to find a way to measure its vibration response. They had to come up with the methodology and test it. Their results are good, something that can be used to help others redesign helmets, for football and maybe other uses.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA redesigned helmet, he pointed out, could lead to a lower incidence of mild traumatic brain injury and concussions, two hazards widely associated with football. While many studies of this phenomenon focus on measuring the acceleration of the head inside the helmet, Ruzzene\u2019s team \u2013 composed of AE and ME graduate students - focused entirely on the dynamic behavior of the helmet itself.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cKnowledge of the vibratory motion of the helmet may lead to an improved understanding of what causes the most severe injuries to the brain,\u201d Ruzzene added.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBy splitting the helmet into several experimental \u201czones,\u201d they were able to resolve the issues created by its curved surface. To generate the vibrations, they glued a piezoelectric transducer (PZT) to the inner surface of the helmet. A bi-dimensional Scanning Laser Doppler Vibrometer (SLDV) measured the resulting wave. The results, illustrated vividly by a color-coded 3D scan, suggest that a more strategic placement of the air venting \u201choles\u201d in the helmet may act to disburse or contain the propagation of impact vibrations. Vibrations migrate between the holes, he said, but not beyond them.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ctable width=\u0022200\u0022 border=\u00220\u0022 cellspacing=\u00221\u0022 cellpadding=\u00225\u0022 align=\u0022right\u0022\u003E\u003Ctbody\u003E\u003Ctr\u003E\u003Ctd\u003E\u003C\/td\u003E\u003C\/tr\u003E\u003Ctr\u003E\u003Ctd\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThis schematic helped the researchers map out different areas of vibrational stress on the standard helmet.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/td\u003E\u003C\/tr\u003E\u003C\/tbody\u003E\u003C\/table\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut Ruzzene stops short of issuing a concrete prescription for new helmet designs.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe fact that these students have found a way to capture the images of vibration propagation is impressive. It sets up a way for someone to make a better helmet,\u201d he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cFor me, as a professor at Georgia Tech, it is proof, once again, that if you set our students loose on a problem, they will come back with a solid, scientific answer. They are an impressive bunch.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EWorking together with Dr. Ruzzene to generate and write up this research were AE graduate students Matteo Carrara, and Amy N. Williams and ME graduate students Aaron Darnton and Marshall Schaeffer.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Four students who took Massimo Ruzzene\u2019s graduate course in experimental structural dynamics have redesigned a football helmet to prevent injury."}],"uid":"27456","created_gmt":"2015-07-14 14:20:07","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:19:04","author":"Britanny Grace","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2014-01-31T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2014-01-31T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"427641":{"id":"427641","type":"image","title":"Ruzzene  Football Team","body":null,"created":"1449254342","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 18:39:02","changed":"1475895165","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:52:45","alt":"Ruzzene  Football Team","file":{"fid":"202795","name":"ruzzene_football_team_2.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/ruzzene_football_team_2_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/ruzzene_football_team_2_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":135995,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/ruzzene_football_team_2_0.jpg?itok=Z35A78bM"}}},"media_ids":["427641"],"groups":[{"id":"1239","name":"School of Aerospace Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"134551","name":"Aaron Damton"},{"id":"2082","name":"aerospace engineering"},{"id":"134541","name":"Amy Williams"},{"id":"134561","name":"Marshall Schaeffer"},{"id":"134521","name":"Massimo Ruzzene"},{"id":"134531","name":"Matteo Carrara"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":["communications@ae.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}