New Airblast Criteria for Man

Abstract

The purpose of this report is to present direct-airblast casualty criteria for personnel in the open and in foxholes. The criteria relate the incident blast overpressure required to produce 1-, 50, and 99-percent incidences of casualities as a function of the overpressure duration. Injuries from the direct-overpressure effect are usually to the hollow or gas containing organs of the body. The lungs are considered to be the target organ because their disruption by the blast permits air to enter the circulation leading to an early death from coronary and cerebral air embolism. Associated with lung hemorrhage are bloody froth in the upper respiratory tract and an increase in respiratory rate. Contusions in the lining of the gastrointestinal tract and perforations at higher blast levels are common features of direct-blast effects. Hearing loss from eardrum rupture an neurosensory lesions in the inner ear are more far reaching direct blast effects.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 01, 1986
Accession Number
ADP005337

Entities

People

  • Donald R. Richmond
  • E. R. Fletcher
  • John T. Yelverton

Organizations

  • Los Alamos National Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Biological Sciences
  • Blast
  • Blast Injuries
  • Blast Waves
  • Casualties
  • Department Of Defense
  • Dynamic Pressure
  • Ear
  • Embolism And Thrombosis
  • Explosions
  • Explosives
  • Gastrointestinal Tract
  • Hearing Loss
  • Hemorrhage
  • Medical Personnel
  • Overpressure
  • Wounds And Injuries

Fields of Study

  • Medicine

Readers

  • Auditory Neuroscience/Auditory Physiology.
  • Cardiovascular Physiology
  • Explosive Engineering.