CFD Research has developed a blast and sound surrogate head to evaluate helmet protection and injury prevention systems. This surrogate head is designed with sensor locations across the surface of the head to measure pressure loadings under a variety of helmet protection designs. This surrogate also features modular ear inserts which can be outfitted with a wide variety of sound, blast, and other instrumentation based on needs. A rear access panel allows easy access to instrumentation during testing without the need of disassembling the entire surrogate head. Neck fixture attachments can be designed to work with fixed necks or a flexible neck such as the Hybrid III neck. The Blast & Sound Surrogate has been used in both free field explosive testing and repeated shock tube testing to demonstrate robustness and ruggedness. This surrogate also has a virtual component which allows for computational and experimental validation and investigation.
