Modeling of the Non-Auditory Response to Blast Overpressure. Calculation ofParenchymal Pressure Due to Double Peak Loading

摘要

Peak parenchymal pressures, calculated with a one-dimensional model of thestructural response of the thorax and lung, are compared with injury observed in sheep exposed to successive blasts a few milliseconds apart. The purpose of this work is to correlate injury level with blast conditions using computer simulations. The calculated peak parenchymal pressure adjacent to the pleural surface varies with blast conditions similarly to the observed increase in lung weight. This suggests that the pressure in the lung parenchyma can be correlated with lung injury. Results of the calculations using idealized loads support the conjecture that two identical blasts separated by a small time interval are more injurious than a single blast. The predicted parenchymal pressure for two blasts separated by 1.7 ms is larger for a single blast, even though the peak incident pressures for the dual and the single blasts are identical. (jes)