The use of gelatine in wound ballistics research

Abstract

Blocks of gelatine are used in both lethality and survivability studies for broadly the same reason, i.e. comparison of ammunition effects using a material that it is assumed represents (some part of) the human body. The gelatine is used to visualise the temporary and permanent wound profiles; elements of which are recognised as providing a reasonable approximation to wounding in humans. One set of researchers aim to improve the lethality of the projectile, and the other to understand the effects of the projectile on the body to improve survivability. Research areas that use gelatine blocks are diverse and include ammunition designers, the medical and forensics communities and designers of ballistic protective equipment (including body armour). This paper aims to provide an overarching review of the use of gelatine for wound ballistics studies; it is not intended to provide an extensive review of wound ballistics as that already exists, e.g. Legal Med 23:21–29, 2016. Key messages are that test variables, projectile type (bullet, fragmentation), impact site on the body and intermediate layers (e.g. clothing, personal protective equipment (PPE)) can affect the resulting wound profiles.

The effect of military clothing on gunshot wounding patterns in gelatine

“…It is therefore paramount that studies are undertaken using appropriate methods to continually test existing theory and research conducted over the last century, and help develop novel strategies to further understand wound ballistics. This may improve patient outcomes [ 4 ], and ultimately retain corporate knowledge gained previously and pass it on to the next generation of clinicians.…”

“…Studies from the last 5 years have examined the difference in gelatine concentrations to determine positive and negative attributes for certain uses within wound ballistic research [ 24 , 38 , 39 ]. The use of gelatine in wound ballistic research has also recently been summarised and highlights the difficulty in accurately reproducing wounding patterns despite controlling as many variables as possible [ 4 ]. With clinicians often stating that no two GSWs are ever the same [ 40 ], such modelling poses a real challenge to the researcher in order to achieve their aim.…”

“…This list is by no means exhaustive; there are numerous studies examining different projectile types, such as steel ball bearings [ 24 , 49 ]. With physical, mechanical and ballistic properties of ammunition varying widely but rarely being discussed within the literature, it is preferential to use a single quarantined batch of required ammunition types and, if necessary, identify composition and microhardness [ 4 ].…”

Preliminary effect of projectile yaw on extremity gunshot wounding in a cadaveric animal model: a serendipitous study

“…Using Multi-Terrain Pattern (MTP) UK standard issue military clothing to provide the intermediate layers, the clothing was prepared in two states, the minimal state (C min ) and the maximal state (C max ), to be compared with a bare control (C nil ) (see "Methods" below). Ammunition was quarantined by batch to ensure physical property differences could be kept to a minimum [26]. The ammunition type selected was a 5.45 × 39 mm mild steel core projectile, a typical threat faced during recent conflicts by UK forces [5,27], and used in previous work by this group.…”

Ballistic research techniques: visualizing gunshot wounding patterns

“…Damage caused to a target by the impact of a projectile in research can be measured in a number of ways, for example, depth of penetration (DoP), kinetic energy (KE) transfer, or calculation of area or volume of damage [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. One of the challenges associated with gathering such data is to optimise the method(s) used for the target material under study.…”