Modeling of the Non-Auditory Response to Blast Overpressure: Considerations inDeveloping a Mechanistically-Based Model of Blast-Induced Injury to Air-Containing Organs

摘要

In order to anticipate the potential for injury in a wide variety of blastenvironments, without the excessive use of animal tests, it is necessary to develop a mechanistic understanding that can be used reliably. The process by which the blast wave produces injury is conceived to have the following intermediate steps. The external blast creates a pressure load distribution on the body that sets it in mechanical motion. That motion is transmitted through the body structure to the air-containing organs, where rapid distortions cause stresses within the organ tissue. The combination of stress and motion does work on the tissue and, when certain material limits are exceeded, results in injury. Multiple, isolated exposures lead to a nonlinear accumulation of damage. This paper discusses the non-organ-specific aspects of modeling this process and demonstrates that the general characteristics of injury observed in animal field tests can be explained. Injury to the larynx is used to make a quantitative validation and a simple-wave, multiple-short Damage-Risk Criterion (DRC) is developed. Keywords: RA 3, Non-auditory response, Blast overpressure, Protective equipment, Weapons effects(Biological), DRC, Larynx, Air-containing organs, Stress(Physiology). (JG)