International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN:

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Volume: 10 Issue: 03 | Mar 2023 www.irjet.net p-ISSN:
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Optimization of Safety helmet made with Honeycomb structure with

Composite Material
Prof. Jayant S. Kulkarni1,Ayush Ghodke2, Sakshi Kamble3
2,3,4B.E.,MechanicalDepartment, Pune Vidyarthi Griha’s College of Engineering and Technology and G.K. Pate
(Wani) Institute of Management, Pune
1Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Pune Vidyarthi Griha’s College of Engineering and Technology and

G.K. Pate (Wani) Institute of Management, Pune

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Abstract –
A prototype model of the safety helmet is made using
successive layers of natural composite fiber using
hand layup technique.
The work aims at developing a safer industrial helmet
with better physical properties along with improved
strength as compared to present day safety helmets.
The prototype along with existing safety helmet both
were then subjected to experimental testing on the
UTM. The comparison between results from the
mechanical testing and software analysis.
Key Words: safety helmet, UTM, Industrial helmet.
1.INTRODUCTION
The continuous manufacturing and utilization of
plastics in each sector of our life has expanded the
plastic waste in enormous scales. The bio composite
would consist of characteristic strands of natural
fibers and suitable polymer matrix. In addition, bio
composites are mixture of regular natural fiber
strands with a polymer matrix of biodegradable
nature. Hybrid composites may answer the question
of high water absorption capacity of natural fiber and
inferior mechanical properties of natural fiber
reinforced composites. The matrix material
surrounds and supports the reinforcement materials
by maintaining their relative positions.
1.1 PROBLEM STATEMENT
All helmets attempt to protect the user’s head by
absorbing mechanical energy and protecting against
penetration. Their structure and protective capacity
are altered in high-energy impacts volume and weight
are also important issues, since higher volume and
weight increase the injury risk for the user’s head and
neck. Every year many workers are killed or seriously
injured in the construction, manufacturing and power
industry because of head injuries. Wearing an
appropriate safety helmet significantly reduces the
risk of injury or even death. Protective headwear
could save your life.
2. HELMET DESIGN
In order to design the honeycomb structure, helmet is
considered as a hemisphere with internal radius of 9
cm and external radius of 14.9 cm. The geometrical
parameters of a honeycomb cell are shown in Figure
2. A graded honeycomb structure is designed with
thickness of 5.9 cm. Geometrical parameters of this
honeycomb structure include c ¼ 6 mm, l ¼ 5 mm and
u ¼ 43. Row thickness of the structure decreases from
upper to lower rows with uppermost row having a
thickness of 0.59 mm and last row having a thickness
of 0.1 mm. This structure is designed with eight rows
with each row having 15 cells. Figure 3 shows the
schematic of honeycomb structure in CATIA software.
The honeycomb structure is made from
polypropylene with a coating of ABS with thickness of
4 mm and its characteristics are shown in Table 1.
Energy absorption of the designed helmet is
simulated in ABAQUS software. The numerical results

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 International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN:
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Volume: 10 Issue: 03 | Mar 2023 www.irjet.net p-ISSN:
2395-0072

such as energy absorption and reaction force history

were compared with standard values.
Table -1: design variation in optimization

Design variation lb ub

C(m) 0.0085 0.009

I(m) 0.007 0.0075

radian 0.6 0.95

D1 0.00049 0.00059

D2 0.00039 0.00049

D3 0.00029 0.00039

D4 0.00019 0.00029

D5 0.00009 0.00019

Optimum polypropylene honeycomb structure.

Optimum polypropylene honeycomb structure filled
with ESP 25 density foam. Optimum polypropylene
honeycomb structure filled with ESP 64 density foam.
Helmet which is made from ESP 25 density foam.
The time history of energy absorption and reaction
force of above structures were achieved from
numerical simulation. Mechanical and physical
properties of the ESP.

fig- Honeycomb cell parameters Chart -1: Energy absorption- time diagram for European
standards

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 International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET)
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Volume: 10 Issue: 03 | Mar 2023
2395-0072
3. IMPLEMENTATION
The first step of the procedure IS to calculate the
stiffness and strength of the carbon/epoxy and
glass/epoxy laminas. Secondly, a load corresponding
to a bending moment in the longitudinal direction was
applied with the midspan stresses within each lamina
being determined based on CLT.With knowledge of
the strength and stress components, factors of safety
at the top, middle and bottom of each lamina can be
calculated. The load was then gradually increased
until failure initiated in order to calculate the failure
load. In addition to this, other necessary parameters
such as density, cost and robustness were also
evaluated with the resulting design index being
calculated taking in account the weighting factors
obtained from AHP.
Fig -1: Crushed: (a) graded honeycomb structure filled with
foam, (b) helmet foam.
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Numerical simulation
Regarding the material and geometrical
characteristics of the structure, the mass and velocity
of the weight which were mentioned in the
standards, energy absorption of different kinds of
designed helmets has been simulated in ABAQUS
software. The dropped mass(anvil) is modelled by
semi-hemispherical plate. S4R elements are used to
mesh the structure, R3D4 elements are used to mesh
the anvil and artificial head. The boundary conditions
are defined by constraining the anvil, A, to move only
in the Y-plane and by fixing all the rotational and
translational degrees of freedom of the head.
Interaction properties are imposed using a general
contact condition for contact of each row and surface
to-surface kinematic contact conditions between the
top element-based surface of the structure and the
anvil. Friction contact is considered for interaction
between anvil and helmet and contact between
helmet and artificial head. The friction coefficient
between helmet and anvil is 0.55 and friction
coefficient between helmet and artificial head.
4. CONCLUSIONS
In this study, a multi-objective analysis has been
presented to evaluate the optimal and robust design
for unidirectional hybrid S-2 glass and T700S carbon
fiber-reinforced epoxy composites with respect to the
flexural properties. The robustness index was derived
and formulated to take account the effect of
uncertainties in the lamina fiber volume fractions and
thickness on the flexural strength of the composite.
Four objectives, namely, flexural strength, weight,
cost and robustness were considered with WSM being
used to convert the problem into a single objective
optimization with the weighting factors being
determined using AHP. Two example cases, each with
five different scenarios, were studied in order to
illustrate the effect of different objective preferences
on the composite design. The results suggested that
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 International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN:
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Volume: 10 Issue: 03 | Mar 2023 www.irjet.net p-ISSN:
2395-0072

the optimal design is not always at the critical hybrid
ratio with the maximum flexural strength or hybrid
effect but depends on the objective preferences. The
authors suggest that the proposed method is a
powerful tool that can be utilized to design more
stable and realistic components with minimal weight,
cost and variability of response when subjected to
manufacturing uncertainties in material design
parameters.
(CFRP) composites. Materials Science and
Engineering A. 2008;498:65-8.
[2] Subagia I.D.G, Kim Y, Tijing LD, Kim CS, Shon HK.
Effect of stacking sequence on the flexural
propertiesof hybrid composites reinforced with
carbon and balast fibres. Composites Part B:
Engineering. 2014;58:251-58.
[3] Manders PW, Bader MG. The strength of hybrid
glass/carbon fibre composites - Part 1 Failure strain
enhancement and failure mode. Journal of Materials
Science. 1981;16:2233-45.

[4] Dong C, Ranaweera-Jayawardena HA, Davies IJ.

Flexural properties of hybrid composites reinforced
by S-2 glass and T700S carbon fibres. Composites Part
5.ACKNOWLEDGEMENT B: Engineering. 2012;43:573-81.
I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation
to all those who gave me the possibility to complete [5] Davies IJ, Hamada H. Flexural properties of a
this report Special thanks is due to our guide Prof. J. S. hybrid polymer matrix composite containing carbon
Kulkarni whose help, stimulating suggestions and and silicon carbide fibres. Advanced Composite
encouragement helped me in all time of fabrication Materials. 2001;10:77-96.
process and in writing this report. I also sincerely
thanks for the time spent proofreading and correcting
my many mistakes. I would also like to acknowledge
with much appreciation the crucial role of the staff in
Mechanical Laboratory, who gave me a permission to
use the lab equipment and also the machine and to
design the drawing and giving a permission to use all
the necessary tools in the laboratory.

Many thanks go to the all lecturer and supervisors

who have given their full effort in guiding the team
in achieving the goal as well as their encouragement
to maintain our progress in track. My profound thanks
go to all classmates, especially to my friends for
spending their time in helping and giving support
whenever I need it in fabricating my project.

6. REFERENCES
[1] Sudarisman, Davies IJ. The effect of processing
parameters on the flexural properties of
unidirectional carbon fibre-reinforced polymer

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