Venting of a Ballistic Helmet in an Attempt to Reduce Thermal Loading

Abstract

Ballistic helmets are designed primarily to protect the head against high-speed impact from fragmentation munitions. The Australian Defense Forces (ADF) have recently introduced into service a composite ballistic helmet. This ballistic helmet is similar in shape to the US Army PASGT helmet on which it is based. When designing these ballistic helmets scant attention was given to the thermal loading on the wearer. Laboratory trials however, have shown that some soldiers have experienced "hotspots" on the front of the head when wearing the ADF ballistic helmet in hot environments. The ballistic helmet is an integral component of the personal armour system and must be worn when wearing a fragmentation or ballistic vest regardless of the environmental conditions. In order to reduce the thermal loading, venting of the helmet was proposed. This report examines airflow under a ballistic helmet and the effect of venting on thermal and vapor resistance using a sweating hotplate. From this work venting does not appear to provide an adequate solution to reducing the thermal load imposed by a ballistic helmet.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 01, 1999
Accession Number
ADA369217

Entities

People

  • Dean J. Robinson
  • G. T. Egglestone

Organizations

  • Defence Science and Technology Group

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Air Flow
  • Air Gaps
  • Australia
  • Clothing
  • Composite Materials
  • Engineering
  • Heat Energy
  • Laminates
  • Materials
  • Measurement
  • Moisture
  • Resistance
  • Sweating
  • Thermal Resistance
  • Universities
  • Ventilation

Readers

  • Explosive Engineering.
  • Military Engineering.
  • Thermal Physics or Thermal Science.