Defining the essential anatomical coverage provided by military body armour against high energy projectiles

Breeze, John; Lewis, Eluned; Fryer, Robert; Hepper, A.; Mahoney, Peter F.; Clasper, Jon

doi:10.1136/jramc-2015-000431

Cited by 30 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…A more economically capable opponent could be equipped with the wide variety of thermobaric weaponry that is currently readily available and has been used in the recent Balkan and Chechnian conflicts 5. British military casualties exposed to such weapons are more likely to survive to reach hospital as improvements in personal protective equipment6 and prehospital care have reduced immediate fatalities due to penetrating injury 7. There is thus a need to increase our understanding of the pathophysiology of this disease and to create accurate research models of PBLI.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling primary blast lung injury: current capability and future direction

Scott¹,

Hulse

Haque

et al. 2016

J R Army Med Corps

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling primary blast lung injury: current capability and future direction

Scott¹,

Hulse

Haque

et al. 2016

J R Army Med Corps

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“…Essential coverage has been defined as those structures responsible for mortality or severe life-altering morbidity 9. The definition was first implemented when determining the essential coverage of the torso and abdomen to define the area of coverage required protect against high velocity projectiles, and the definition has been used to specify, procure and assess new hard armour plates to be used with the VIRTUS system.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Desirable coverage has been defined as those anatomical structures potentially responsible for mortality not fitting the requirement for essential coverage as well as those causing morbidity necessitating lifelong medical treatment or that result in considerable disability 9…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This was subsequently analysed in a multidisciplinary forum of clinicians including specialists in general surgery, orthopaedic surgery and urology to determine what structures should encompass desired coverage (Table 1, Figure 3). Such an approach was previously successfully adopted for determining the essential coverage required for the thorax and abdomen 9…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Defining the medical coverage of ballistic protection to the pelvis and thigh

2020

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IntroductionPelvis, lower limb and associated genital injury caused by explosive devices was responsible for mortality and considerable long-term morbidity for the UK Armed Forces during combat operations in Afghanistan, resulting in the issue of a pelvic protection system in 2010. The aim of this current research was to determine the medical coverage of the pelvis and thigh and to define the vertical dimensions of ballistic protective material for future pelvic protection (PP).MethodCT scans from 120 male UK Armed Forces personnel were analysed to identify the anthropometric landmarks and vertical boundaries of coverage for the pelvis and thigh. Pelvic height was the vertical distance between the upper border of the iliac crest in the midaxillary plane to the most inferior point of the ischial tuberosity of the pelvis. Upper thigh height was proposed as a 100 mm fixed distance below the ischial tuberosities, enabling a tourniquet to be reproducibly applied. These distances were compared with the ballistic component of the five sizes of tier 1 PP using a paired t-test.ResultsThe vertical components of coverage measured using CT scans were all significantly less (p<0.01) compared with all five sizes of tier 1 PP; for example, the ballistic component of the smallest size of tier 1 PP measured 410 mm, which was larger than the 99th percentile male, which measured 346 mm on CT scans.ConclusionsWhile all sizes of tier 1 PP provide coverage to the pelvis and upper thigh structures, there is an opportunity to optimise future PP. For example, comparing the large size of tier 1 PP to the 50th percentile male demonstrated an opportunity to reduce the ballistic protective component by 31%. Reducing the quantity of material used will improve heat dissipation and user comfort and reduce material mass and acquisition costs.

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“…It is being developed to provide an improved capability for covering different types of personal ballistic protection worn by military personnel 19. Projectile penetrations are represented by algorithms describing their individual behaviour as they pass through the geometry (Figure 3).…”

Section: Personal Vulnerability Simulation Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Injury representation against ballistic threats using three novel numerical models

et al. 2016

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Injury modelling of ballistic threats is a valuable tool for informing policy on personal protective equipment and other injury mitigation methods. Currently, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Centre for Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI) are focusing on the development of three interlinking numerical models, each of a different fidelity, to answer specific questions on current threats. High-fidelity models simulate the physical events most realistically, and will be used in the future to test the medical effectiveness of personal armour systems. They are however generally computationally intensive, slow running and much of the experimental data to base their algorithms on do not yet exist. Medium fidelity models, such as the personnel vulnerability simulation (PVS), generally use algorithms based on physical or engineering estimations of interaction. This enables a reasonable representation of reality and greatly speeds up runtime allowing full assessments of the entire body area to be undertaken. Low-fidelity models such as the human injury predictor (HIP) tool generally use simplistic algorithms to make injury predictions. Individual scenarios can be run very quickly and hence enable statistical casualty assessments of large groups, where significant uncertainty concerning the threat and affected population exist. HIP is used to simulate the blast and penetrative fragmentation effects of a terrorist detonation of an improvised explosive device within crowds of people in metropolitan environments. This paper describes the collaboration between MoD and CPNI using an example of all three fidelities of injury model and to highlight future areas of research that are required.

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Defining the essential anatomical coverage provided by military body armour against high energy projectiles

Cited by 30 publications

References 59 publications

Modelling primary blast lung injury: current capability and future direction

Modelling primary blast lung injury: current capability and future direction

Defining the medical coverage of ballistic protection to the pelvis and thigh

Injury representation against ballistic threats using three novel numerical models

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