The design of a modified lower limb impactor to assess lower limb injury at typical blast loading rates

Abstract

Anti-Vehicular Landmines (AVLs), under-belly Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) or even side-attack IEDs are found to be some of the major threats for military vehicles and their occupants [1]. The lower extremities of the occupants are very prone to injuries, more so during underbelly detonation of the AVL or IED as a result of their spatial proximity to the rapidly deforming floor of the vehicle. Thus, there exists an urgent requirement to investigate the mechanism of extremity injury caused by AVL or IED in order to develop mitigation strategies. An important key to understanding such mechanisms of injury is the ability to deconstruct the complexities of an explosive event into a controlled, laboratory-based environment where the lower extremities can be impacted and their response evaluated. The Modified Lower Limb Impactor (MLLI) used in the laboratory is designed to recreate the impulse that is transferred to the lower extremity from an AVL detonation. The MLLI has been built and the characterisation thereof is the main focus of this paper.