Reduction of Crew Injury caused by Acceleration from Mine Blast/ IED

Ala Tabiei1 and Gaurav Nilakantan

Abstract
Anti tank (AT) mines pose a serious threat to the occupants of armored vehicles. High
acceleration pulses are transmitted to the occupant through vehicle-occupant contact
interfaces, such as the floor and seat, posing the risk of moderate injury to fatality. The
use of an energy absorbing seat in conjunction with vehicle armor plating greatly
improves occupant survivability during such an explosion. The axial crushing of
aluminum tubes over a steel rail constitutes the principal energy absorption mechanism
to reduce the blast pulse transmitted to the occupant in this investigation. The explicit
non-linear finite element software LS-DYNA© is used to perform all numerical
simulations. The second part of this investigation simulates the impact of an occupant’s
foot by a rigid wall whose upward motion is comparable to an armored vehicle’s reaction
to a mine blast directly underneath it. Data such as hip and knee moment, femoral
force, and foot acceleration are collected from the dummy and compared to injury
threshold values from various references. Finally, a simple numerical formulation is
presented, to predict the acceleration response during dynamic axial crushing of
cylindrical tubes. The formulation uses an energy balance approach and is coded in the
high level language MATLAB©.

Figure 1. A solider subjected to mine blast/IED

1
atabiei@aol.com
 Energy Absorbing Seat Structure
Axial crushing of cylindrical tubes became a very popular choice of impact energy
absorber because it provides a reasonably constant operating force, has high energy
absorption capacity and stroke length per unit mass. Further a tube subjected to axial
crushing can ensure that all of its material participates in the absorption of energy by
plastic work. It has been reported that the concertina mode of deformation results in a
higher specific energy absorption than the diamond mode of deformation (high D/t
ratios, non-axisymmetric).
The EA seat structure with a Hybrid III dummy is displayed in Figure 1. The support
structure rigidly holds two cylindrical steel rails inclined at a 20° angle to the vertical. A
set of upper and lower cylindrical brackets which slide along the rails are attached to the
seat. A steel collar is rigidly attached to each rail. The aluminum crush tubes are coaxial
with the steel rails and are positioned between the upper bracket and collar. As the
upper bracket moves downwards, it crushes the aluminum tubes against the collar,
which is the primary energy absorption principal used here. The occupant is modeled
using a 5th percentile HYBRID III dummy. An initial time delay of 50 ms in all simulations
allows for gravity settling of the dummy against the seat to ensure proper contact. In
addition to the aluminum crush tubes, further energy absorbing elements are added to
the design.
A foam cushion provides additional cushioning to the occupant. The cushion behind the
dummy’s neck and head is made thicker so as to minimize the head recoil distance
before impact with the cushion.
An airbag cushion whose inflation is controlled by a sensor that triggers at a user
defined acceleration level provides additional cushioning, especially during vehicle slam
down after a mine blast. The inflation of the airbag is controlled in LS-DYNA using a
user defined load curve. A SIMPLE_AIRBAG model in LSDYNA has been used.
The applied pulses prescribe structural accelerations that correspond to actual physical
phenomenon. Figure 2(a) displays the deceleration pulse that represents vertical impact
after freefall, based on data from. Figure 2(b) displays the acceleration pulse that
represents a mine blast under an armored vehicle. This pulse includes a peak
acceleration of 180 G for a 5 ms duration. This is followed by a 85 ms duration of
negative acceleration to put the final velocity at zero and final displacement at its
maximum vertical position. After that the acceleration stabilizes at -1 G (freefall) until
displacement is zero.
A series of vertical drop test simulations are run using LSDYNA. Numerical data such
as seat and torso accelerations are compared to experimental data. A series of mine
blast simulations are then run using LSDYNA. Occupant data such as head and neck
accelerations, neck flexion-extension moments, seat and torso accelerations, are
collected and examined to assess occupant injury and survivability.

Injury assessment during lower leg impact

During the explosion of an AT (anti tank) mine under an armored vehicle, significant
impulse loads are transmitted to the occupant through the vehicle-occupant interfaces
such as the floor and seat. If these loads are not attenuated to survivable levels, it
normally leads to fatality of the occupant. The impact of the vehicle structure with the
occupant’s feet through the floor and other contact points such as pedals and foot rests,
and corresponding extremely high acceleration pulse transmitted can result in fracture
and disintegration of the femoral bone, ultimately even fatality. The impact of lower leg
during a mine blast under an armored vehicle has been numerically simulated using a
50th percentile HYBRID III dummy to better understand the effect of the mine blast on
occupant survivability and injury assessment, as well as to validate the use of a
HYBRID III dummy in such applications. Further the high cost associated with
destructive testing is avoided.
The experimental set up formed the basis for the numerical simulation and is displayed
in Figure 3. A seat is rigidly fixed in 3-d space. The occupant is simulated by a 50th
percentile HYBRID III dummy which is internally created by LSDYNA during the
initialization of the simulation run. The dummy is seated on this rigid seat. The position
and orientation of the arms is not important and is therefore left at its default values, as
it plays no role during the simulation. Similarly an occupant restraint mechanism such
as a seatbelt has not been modeled as there is no significant middle or upper torso
movement during the simulation. The main region of activity lies between the foot and
hip of the dummy. A rigid horizontal wall simulates the impacting vehicle floor. The
motion of the floor is controlled by prescribing its velocity. While modeling the wall, care
is taken to position the wall as close as possible to the feet, as even the smallest gap
between the wall and feet can significantly alter extracted data such as femur axial
compressive force. Since it is not possible during modeling to ensure exact contact,
gravity is applied during the initial time lag which ensures the feet initially settles against
the floor. As the feet are thrown upwards during the application of the input prescribed
velocity pulse to the wall, data such as foot acceleration, lower leg acceleration, hip
moment, knee moment and femur axial compressive force are measured. Filtering of
data is done with a low range Butterworth filter, with a cut-off frequency at 300 Hz. The
data is then compared to reference values to assess injury.
 Numerical Results and Discussion

Vertical Drop Tests with HYBRID III Dummy

The peak deceleration pulse has been attenuated from 76 G to 9 G at the lower torso,
as displayed in Figure 4. This is well within the injury criteria limit of 17.5 G. According
to the resultant head acceleration tolerance limit is 150 G in a 2 ms interval. The
contoured foam cushion behind the head ensures that the head is supported at all times
during the simulation, so that there is no possibility of injury occurring from the head
acceleration criteria. The peak dynamic crushing force of both aluminum tubes is 14300
N. However the compressive lumbar load experienced by the dummy is just 3600 N
which is well below the lumbar load criterion of 6672 N. This is attributed to the load
attenuation during compression of the foam cushion.

Mine Blast Tests with the EA Seat and HYBRID III Dummy
The peak deceleration pulse has been attenuated from 171 G to 11 G at the lower
torso, as displayed in Figure 5. The vertical acceleration of the lower pelvis over a 7 ms
interval must not exceed 23 G. The peak dynamic crushing force of both aluminum
tubes is 14640 N. However the compressive lumbar load experienced by the dummy is
just 3160 N which is well below the lumbar load criterion. The compressive femur force
is 11434 N which is above the maximum allowable limit of 10000 N at any instant.
Lower Leg Impact with HYBRID III Dummy
The data from the numerical simulations are compared against experimental data. It is
important to note the scarcity of available data due to limited research conducted,
especially on human cadavers, and the classified nature of such work. Data such as
foot acceleration and femur axial compressive force have injury criteria associated with
them and are therefore used for validation. However data such as knee, hip and ankle
moments do not have associated injury criteria yet and further research needs to be
conducted into this. This data has still been presented in our study as it is important and
can serve as a reference in the future. Figure 6. compares the femur force between our
numerical simulation and test db3 from. Figure 7. compares the foot acceleration. As
can be seen, the data from our numerical simulations is in very good agreement with
the experimental data.
The femur axial compressive force is far higher in the case of sitting straight position
than the driving position as the entire compressive load is directly transmitted to the
femoral bone along its axis. The ankle moments are significantly higher for the upper
range of wall impact speeds in the driving position, compare to the sitting straight
position where the complete lower surface of the foot maintains its flat contact with the
wall throughout the simulation leading to negligible ankle moments. Thus occupant
position plays an important role in the magnitude of loads transmitted and injury
severity. Further data extracted such as hip, knee and ankle moments can therefore be
used now for accurate injury assessment. It has been reported in automobile crash
testing that the HYBRID III legs are too stiff which may lead to an underestimation of
injury. The accuracy of results can be optimized by using more advanced dummies that
better model the human body such as the Thor-Lx and Hybrid Denton leg. However our
simulations have demonstrated the use of the HYBRID III dummy for occupant safety
assessment during a mine blast application with satisfactory results. There is a scarcity
of available data pertaining to lower leg impact during a mine blast under armored
vehicles and extensive research needs to be conducted, especially testing on human
cadavers in order to better understand the injury assessment and establish a reliable
and extensive source of data. Further, new injury criteria for the foot need to be
developed.
 Dynamic Axial Crushing of Circular Tubes

The primary energy dissipation method used in the EA seat mechanism discussed in
earlier sections is the axial crushing of aluminum shells. The peak deceleration pulse
experienced by the impacting mass, in this case, the EA seat is of interest as it is used
to assess occupant injury based on the maximum allowable acceleration at the lumbar
and corresponding maximum allowable compressive lumbar load. The static and
dynamic crushing of circular tubes has been studied both experimentally, and
numerically using various dynamic finite element codes. Before full scale simulations
are run with dummy occupants and the EA seat mechanism, it is useful to be able to
predict the acceleration response of the impactor and other time history parameters
such as the dynamic crushing load, velocity, and energy dissipated. Further, the effect
of varying material and geometric parameters of the aluminum crush tube on the final
response can be studied to select the optimum combination of parameters, before
implementing it in a full scale simulation.
An energy balance approach has been formulated, that implements a numerical
scheme to the analytical work, to predict the response history such as velocity,
acceleration, and energy dissipated. The formulation is implemented in the high-level
language MATLAB and is run on a Pentium 1.3 GHz personal computer. Run times
average around 40 s. The formulation can be used in two configurations, each of which
will require slight modifications be made to the program code. The first configuration
involves an impactor striking a stationery aluminum crush tube, whose farthest end is
supported by a stationery rigid wall. The second configuration involves the application of
the formulation in crashworthiness applications. Here, both the aluminum tube and the
impactor initially move with the same velocity. A large deceleration pulse is applied to
the supporting structure to simulate the impact event.
For detail of the formation contact the principle author at (atabiei@aol.com).
 Conclusions

The presented energy absorbing seat design proves to be effective in occupant

survivability during vertical drop and mine blast scenarios. Numerical simulations of the
energy absorbing seat subject to vertical drop tests and mine blast tests with a dummy
occupant prove to be reliable and a far less expensive alternative to conducting
destructive tests. From the numerical results of the simulations, it is evident that the
crushing of aluminum tubes provides a controlled, acceptable means of attenuating
deceleration pulses to survivable values. The use of a contoured foam cushion helps in
additionally attenuating the peak deceleration pulse at the occupant’s lower torso, and
the compressive lumbar load. The contoured headrest ensures a minimal gap between
the head and seat thereby minimizing head rearward accelerations. In a future study,
the authors will examine the feasibility of using a honeycomb structure as an efficient
energy absorbing member.
The use of the HYBRID III dummy for occupant simulation during mine blast testing has
been satisfactorily validated, after comparison of foot acceleration and femur axial
compressive load, with experimental data. The transmitted compressive femur loads are
much higher in the case where the femur bone is perpendicular to the floor, compared
to the driving position.
A numerical formulation has been presented that is used to study the dynamic axial
crushing of circular tubes. The formulation can predict the time histories of energy
transformations, velocities, accelerations, and dynamic crushing loads. The formulation
can also be used in occupant survivability studies in crashworthiness applications. The
maximum deceleration pulse of the occupant obtained from the experiment, simulation
and formulation are in good agreement.
 100

80 Vertical Drop Test

Pulse

Acceleration (G)
60

40

20

-20
0 20 40 60 80
Tim e (m s)

200

150
Mine Blast Pulse
Acceleration (G)

100

50

-50
0 50 100 150
Time (ms)

Fig. 2. Applied pulse simulating (a) impact after free fall (b) mine blast under armored
vehicle
Fig. 3. Numerical setup of Hybrid III in (a) normal seated position (b) driving position
 100
Low er Torso
80
Seat
60 Structure
Acceleration (G)

40

20

-20

-40
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Tim e (m s)

Fig. 5. Vertical drop test simulation results: acceleration

 200

Low er Torso
150
Seat
Acceleration (G)

Structure
100

50

-50
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Tim e (m s)

Fig. 6. Mine blast test simulation results: acceleration

 2000

-2000
Force (N)

-4000

-6000

-8000
experiment
-10000 simulation

-12000
0 5 10 15 20
Tim e (m s)

Fig. 7. Validation of femur axial compressive force with test db3a

 250

200

150 experiment
Acceleration (G)

simulation
100

50

-50

-100
0 5 10 15 20 25
Tim e (m s)

Fig. 8. Validation of foot acceleration with test db3a