Reduction of Acceleration Induced Injuries from Mine Blasts under Infantry Vehicles

Anti tank (AT) mines and improvised explosive devices (IED) pose a serious threat to the occupants of infantry vehicles. The use of an energy absorbing seat in conjunction with vehicle armor plating greatly improves occupant survivability during such an explosion. The dynamic axial crushing of aluminum tubes constitutes the principal energy absorption mechanism to reduce the blast pulse transmitted to the occupant in this investigation. The injury mechanisms of both vehicle-occupant contact interfaces are simulated viz. vehicle seat upon the occupant’s torso and vehicle floor upon the occupant’s feet. Data such as hip and knee moment, femoral force, and foot acceleration is collected from the numerical dummy which simulates the occupant’s response. This data is then compared to injury threshold values from various references to assess survivability.