Blast Overpressure Studies with Animals and Man: Biological Response to Complex Blast Waves

Anesthetized sheep were exposed to explosions generated by the detonation of various weights of C-4 ranging in size from 57 to 1361 g in three different enclosures. The dimensions of the enclosures were 3.05 x 1.52 x 2.44 m, 3.05 x 2.44 x 2.44 m, and 4.88 x 3.05 x 2.44 m 'or 11.3, 18.2, and 36.3 m(3), respectively. The results from these experiments were used to establish an injury prediction curve using severity of injury indices and smoothed peak pressure. It appears to be an adequate model for the data collected and correlates well with previously reported injury prediction curves. It was determined that quasi-static pressure per se doesn't influence non-auditory injury to any appreciable degree. However, changes in the quasi-static pressure can affect the reverberant nature of the complex wave which seems to have a role in solid intra-abdominal response. There was also a simple relationship between lung injury and loading density demonstrated. As loading density increases, lung injury increases. Blast overpressure effects on animals, Non-auditory injury, Effects of complex waves, Sheep as an animal.