Finite Element Analysis of New Laminated Composite Shells for Motorcycle Helmet via Solidworks® Simulation

Motorcycle helmet is the best protective headgear to reduce head injuries and improve the safety to the motorcyclists during road accidents. The helmet shell is the main components of the helmet. The performance of helmet is depending on the types of material itself to provide desired protection performance to the motorcyclists. The purpose of this study is to study the performance of the new laminated composite motorcycle helmet shells by using the Finite Element Analysis via Solidworks® software version SP02. Helmet model is created by using Solidworks® software and the drop test analysis is made according to SNELL-M2015 motorcycle helmet standard in top, side and back location of the helmet shell. The materials that is used for the laminated composite shells is the Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) and Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP). These two types of laminated composite shells will be compared with the Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) helmet shells drop test analysis which resulting value of stress (von-Mises) and displacement. The result shows that CFRP helmet is high in terms of stress (von-Mises) but for GFRP and ABS helmet shells, it is low in terms of displacement. The minimum deformation or displacement observed implies to be a better suitability for the use as helmets.