Research centre seeks to combat blast effects

摘要

An £8m centre researching the effects of roadside bomb blasts hopes to produce improved body-protection and vehicle design for soldiers in Afghanistan. The Centre for Blast Injury Studies, launched on 7 December at Imperial College London, is aimed at studying and reducing the effects of injuries caused by improvised explosive devices (IEDs), most notably heel injuries that can need years of painful rehabilitation. A team of engineers claims it has already designed and built a unique test rig that simulates the impact of a human leg against a vehicle floor as a bomb explodes beneath it.