Body armor that is designed to prevent bullets from perforating may cause injury due to theresulting backface deformation of the armor. However, behind-armor blunt trauma criteria andsubsequent injury evaluations are known throughout the testing and evaluation community tohave major limitations. This study assessed three evaluation tools fabricated to address some ofthe limitations: an anthropometric tool equipped with accelerometers and force sensors, acylindrical response element with a laser displacement measurement device, and a hemicylindricalresponse element using digital image correlation.Although none of the evaluation tools were able to repeatedly and reliably measure thedynamic impact event, the tests allowed for the identification of key design considerations andmethodology improvements for future devices. Material and instrumentation limitations werethe greatest contributors to poor performance. As research continues to advance understandingin characterizing surrogate materials and improve instrumentation capabilities, a successfulevaluation tool may soon be realized.
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