THE COST 327 EUROPEAN STUDY

RIGOROUS SCIENTIFIC STUDIES OPEN THE WAY TO INNOVATIVE INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION

At the root of the work carried out by the ULP, (Louis Pasteur University - CNRS, the French National Scientific Research Centre), is the in-depth statistical study on motorcycle accidents and their injuries, led by the European study COST 327 (European Cooperation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research). A total of 253 accidents involving motorcyclists, the vast majority of whom were wearing helmets, were analysed within the framework of the COST 327 project, “Motorcyclist’s helmets”.

The results show that 66% of injuries, of all levels of gravity, are situated around the brain. This statement of fact has brought to light the urgent necessity for improvement to the protective capacities of helmets. The first conclusion of the COST 327 report is as follows: “in order to reduce the number and gravity of these injuries, it is necessary in the first instance to reduce the rotational impact".

WHAT HAPPENS DURING AN IMPACT TO THE HEAD

In order to give as finely-detailed an analysis as possible of what takes place when the head receives an impact, a real motorcycle accident with head injury was digitally simulated, the first time including the rotational acceleration experienced and the second, without the rotational forces. By doing this, researchers were able to calculate the shear stress inside the brain. The comparison of the results of the two tests made it possible to assess the damaging effect of the rotational element of the head in intracerebral shearing.

Digital models also made it possible to show that a very brief, hard impact (such as a hammer blow) causes fractures to the skull, whereas a longer –lasting impulse tends instead to cause neurological lesions. The three most common lesions are:
1 – Skull fracture associated with deformation of the bone: a hammer blow
2 – Subdural haematoma associated with the rotational movement of the brain within the skull (this causes the rupture of veins joining the brain mass and the skull wall)
3 – Neurological lesions or intracerebral shearing caused by the rotational component of the impact. Without going back over figures quoted previously, it is important to make it clear that digital simulations have made it possible to show a 67.5% reduction in the risk of intracerebral shearing.

This significant result represents a key advance in terms of safety.