IIT Roorkee academic awarded for the design and development of Blast-Resistant Helmet
Roorkee : Prof. Shailesh Ganpule from Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department (MIED), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee has been conferred with the ‘NSG Counter-IED & Counter-Terrorism Innovator Award 2021′ for his outstanding contribution and innovation in the design and development of Blast-Resistant Helmet.
The award was conferred in a ceremony held at NSG Campus, Manesar, Haryana. Blast-induced traumatic brain injury has been identified as a signature wound in recent asymmetric conflicts. Military helmets are classically designed for protection against ballistic impact, with little to no attention for protection against blast. The Blast-Resistant Helmet is an advanced version of conventional helmets to protect military personnel from IED-induced blast waves with a technology readiness of 4.
“I convey my profound gratitude for honouring me with this award. Although I am not the one among the privileged countrymen, who guard our country on the frontline, I feel proud to have made my contribution to protect many precious lives of our security forces who face continuous threats and do perilous jobs while handling explosives and IEDs. The design of blast resistant helmet posed significant challenges as it involved trade-offs between various aspects. We focused on mitigating the effects of blast wave beneath the helmet and violent head rotation, while uncompromising on ballistic protection. Using computational modelling and extensive experiments, we have demonstrated that a face shield can mitigate the effects of wave focusing beneath the helmet, and soft material with the ability to slide between the head and helmet can help mitigate the rotational motion of the head. The technology works as active mitigation just before the arrival of IED-induced blast waves” said Prof. Shailesh Ganpule, MIED, IIT Roorkee.
Prof. Ganpule, a faculty in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering of IIT Roorkee who is the Coordinator of the extreme mechanics laboratory. His research interests are in the areas of the blast and impact-induced head injury, response of materials and structures under extreme loading environments, and design of mitigation systems. Work in his laboratory is supported by DST, DRDO, and ISRO. Prof. Ganpule has received numerous awards, including the early career award (DST), young investigator award (Institution of Engineers India, Roorkee Chapter), and travel awards from the World council of Biomechanics and National Neurotrauma Society, USA. He is a life member of the Society for Shock Wave Research and the Indian Society for Applied Mechanics.
“Prof. Shailesh Ganpule’s invention is an important step towards strengthening India’s defence and bolstering counter-terrorism efforts. I am happy that IIT Roorkee is taking up research problems which address the needs of the country” said Prof. Ajit K Chaturvedi, Director, IIT Roorkee.
‘NSG Counter-IED & Counter-Terrorism Innovator Award’ is instituted by National Security Guard for deserving innovators who have made an outstanding contribution towards innovation in Counter IED and Counter-Terrorism fields to safeguard national security.