Study on chest injury and bulletproof vest protection under the combined action of blast wave and fragments

Abstract

Using a simulation based method, this paper analysis the damage effect of blast wave and fragments on human body and the protective effect of bulletproof vest. The results show that compared with the single blast shock wave, the chest injury is more serious under the combined action of blast shock wave and fragments. The peak stress of sternum, costal cartilage and rib increases by 334.34%, 170.23% and 39.72%, respectively. The peak stress on the side of the lung decreases by 3.95%, with little change. The peak stress on the front and back of the lung increases by 83.58% and 409.09% respectively. Overall, the lung injury is aggravated. With the addition of the bulletproof vest, the damage caused by fragments is reduced, and the peak stress of the sternum and the costal cartilage decreases by 48.77% and 69.78%, respectively. Due to the interaction of the blast wave with the vest and the chest, the damage caused by blast wave is aggravated. The peak stress of rib increases by 13.55%, and the peak stress of lung front, side and back increases by 1.22%, 6.51% and 3.57%, respectively.

Keywords:

• Blast wave
• combined damage
• bulletproof vest
• chest finite element model
• chest injury

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

We acknowledge the support from National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 11972158), Military Commission Science, the Postgraduate Scientific Research Innovation Project of Hunan Province (No.CX20221044) and Technology Committee Basic Strengthening Program Technology Fund (2020-JCJQ-JJ-356) and (2019-JCJQ-JJ-150).