Measurement Techniques Using Both Shock Tube and Explosive Tests to Assess Material Performance in Reducing Primary Blast Lung Injury

摘要

The goal of this work is to investigate methods to utilize small scale shock tube testing as a screening procedure for the development of primary blast lung injury protective concepts. For this analysis it is critical to understand and appropriately relate the performance of the material system when challenged in a shock tube test to the material performance under full scale explosive testing. Measurement techniques with shock tubes and explosive tests were used to evaluate shock loading of materials and subsequent stress wave transmission in relation to injury criteria identified in the literature. The materials tested included soft and rigid ballistic materials and foam. Shock tube experimentation was performed with a single, flush pressure sensor mounted behind materials. A full scale test device was created that could be used to obtain pressure measurements under a protective material concept during full scale explosive testing. The device was a Modified Blast Test Device (MBTD) of cylindrical shape with pressure sensors mounted flush to the surface on a circle around the device's circumference. Pressure measurements without materials and behind materials were gathered in all test scenarios for comparison. The pressure data were used to analyze peak pressure, specific impulse, dP/dt_(max), normalized work and acoustic wave transmission. Results of the full scale experimental effort are compared with shock tube results.