Work
Funded programs and published research.
A completed DARPA Phase I, a Phase II in performance, and the peer-reviewed record behind both.
Lightweight bio-inspired cellular helmets for mitigating blast-induced brain injury
Building on our Phase I feasibility result, Cortex Dynamix is using the same design, simulation, and experimental principles to produce a prototype helmet system that will be field-tested against state-of-the-art protective systems. To date, all deliverables and milestones have been completed as proposed, on or ahead of schedule.
Key innovation: a novel biologically inspired design configuration, our core IP, usable to design structures that mitigate blast and impact across a range of dynamic loading scenarios.
Feasibility of the bio-inspired cellular building block
Drawing inspiration from naturally blast-mitigating materials and creatures, we used finite element simulation and machine learning to produce a cellular building block, tested it under blast loading, and analyzed repeated-blast damage via computed tomography. The result: feasibility proven, the block vastly superior to currently used systems, at TRL 3.
Performance: every milestone on or ahead of schedule, budget executed as proposed, no additional costs. The result won the follow-on Phase II SBIR.
Research foundations
Aerospace approaches to TBI advancement
Printed lattices that absorb impact energy and mitigate acceleration, with CT-scan damage analysis revealing failure modes cell by cell.
A surrogate head model instrumented to correlate bulk acceleration to intracranial pressure, turning an external measurement into a prediction of what the brain experiences.
Layered composite structures engineered for low-velocity impact resistance, cutting transmitted acceleration for protective equipment.
Scaling laws that let surrogate heads match the dynamic response of real human heads, making injury-threshold testing repeatable and faithful.
Publications
Peer-reviewed record
| Year | Publication | Journal |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | On the Energy Absorption and Acceleration Mitigation of 3D Printed Lattice Structures with CT Scan Damage Analysis · DOI | Multiscale Sci. Eng. |
| 2024 | Low-Velocity Impact Resistance of Multilayer Composite Structures for Mitigating Acceleration · DOI | J. Composite Materials |
| 2024 | Static and Dynamic Mechanical Properties of 3D Printed Digital Materials · DOI | Multiscale Sci. Eng. |
| 2024 | Dynamic Similitude of Human Head Surrogates · DOI | Multiscale Sci. Eng. |
| 2024 | Multiscale Structure of Brain and Challenges in Traumatic Brain Injury Risk Prediction | Multiscale Sci. Eng. |
| 2024 | Effect of Crack Tip Geometry and in situ Compression Rolling on Fracture Failure Mechanisms of Polymer 3D Printed Parts | Progress in Additive Mfg. |
| 2023 | Impact Testing of a Surrogate Human Head Model for Correlation of Bulk Acceleration to Intracranial Pressure · DOI | Multiscale Sci. Eng. |
| 2022 | Modeling the Effect of in situ Nozzle-Integrated Compression Rolling on Void Reduction and Filament Adhesion in FFF | Multiscale Sci. Eng. |
| 2021 | Cavitation Induced Damage in Soft Biomaterials | Multiscale Sci. Eng. |
| 2021 | Void Reduction in Fused Filament Fabrication Through In Situ Nozzle-Integrated Compression Rolling | Virtual & Physical Prototyping |
| 2020 | Effects of Bubble Size and Gas Density on the Shock-induced Collapse of Nanoscale Cavitation Bubbles | Multiscale Sci. Eng. |
| 2017 | Effect of Shock-Induced Cavitation Bubble Collapse on Damage in the Simulated Perineuronal Net of the Brain | Scientific Reports |