THE TOLERANCE OF CATTLE TO 'LONG'-DURATION REFLECTED PRESSURES IN A SHOCK TUBE

Twenty-seven steers, mounted side-on against the endplate of an air-driven shock tube, were exposed to 'sharp'-rising reflected pressures of 184-msec duration. Pressure-time measurements were made with piezoelectric pressure transducers. Autopsies were performed on all animals and the nature of their blast injuries determined. The LD50 reflected pressure, obtained by probit analysis, was 43.1 psi for steers having a mean body weight of 180 kg. The results are compared with tolerance values obtained in previous investigations involving exposure of eight species of smaller animals to overpressures of 400-msec duration. Twenty-four hour, time-lethality data for steers are compared with those of five species of smaller animals. The potential use of blast-injured domestic animals, as a source of food, is briefly discussed. (Author) See also AD-653 022.