The Development of an Injury Corridor to Assess Lower Extremity Injuries Resulting From Anti-Vehicular (AV) Landmine/Improvised Explosive Device (IED) Blasts in Military Vehicles

Detonations of anti-vehicular (AV) landmines and improvised explosive devices (IED) have accounted for more than half of the U.S. Military hostile casualties and wounded in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) [1]. Military tactical and combat vehicles are being up-armored to defeat this ubiquitous threat and mitigate injuries to vehicle occupants. In order to define the optimal level of protection required to neutralize a given blast magnitude, a fundamental understanding of human injury tolerances must be established for loading conditions representative of AV blast impacts. Unlike automotive impact testing, AV landmine/IED explosions produce high amplitude and short duration vertical impact accelerations. The lower extremity is the predominantly injured body region following AV blasts. Detonations occurring under the vehicle produce localized floorboard deformation and transmit high axial loads onto the ankle/foot/tibia complex of the occupant causing injuries to the lower leg. [2,3]