Pressure Versus Impulse Graph for Blast-Induced Traumatic Brain Injury and Correlation to Observable Blast Injuries
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Scholars' Mine Doctoral Dissertations Student Theses and Dissertations Spring 2019 Pressure versus impulse graph for blast-induced traumatic brain injury and correlation to observable blast injuries Barbara Rutter Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/doctoral_dissertations Part of the Explosives Engineering Commons, and the Mathematics Commons Department: Mining Engineering Recommended Citation Rutter, Barbara, "Pressure versus impulse graph for blast-induced traumatic brain injury and correlation to observable blast injuries" (2019). Doctoral Dissertations. 2791. https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/doctoral_dissertations/2791 This thesis is brought to you by Scholars' Mine, a service of the Missouri S&T Library and Learning Resources. This work is protected by U. S. Copyright Law. Unauthorized use including reproduction for redistribution requires the permission of the copyright holder. For more information, please contact [email protected]. PRESSURE VERSUS IMPULSE GRAPH FOR BLAST-INDUCED TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY AND CORRELATION TO OBSERVABLE BLAST INJURIES BY BARBARA RUTTER A DISSERTATION Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the MISSOURI UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN EXPLOSIVES ENGINEERING 2019 Approved by: Catherine E. Johnson, Advisor Kyle Perry Braden Lusk Paul Worsey Dimitri Feys 2019 Barbara Rutter All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT With the increased use of explosive devices in combat, blast induced traumatic brain injury (bTBI) has become one of the signature wounds in current conflicts. Animal studies have been conducted to understand the mechanisms in the brain and a pressure versus time graph has been produced. However, the role of impulse in bTBIs has not been thoroughly investigated for animals or human beings. This research proposes a new method of presenting bTBI data by using a pressure versus impulse (P-I) graph. P-I graphs have been found useful in presenting lung lethality regions and building damage thresholds. To present the animal bTBI data on a P-I graph for humans, the reported peak pressures needed to be scaled to humans, impulse values calculated, and impulse values scaled. Peak pressures were scaled using Jean et al.’s method, which accounts for all the structures of the head. Impulse values were estimated in two methods: Friedlander’s impulse equation and a proposed modification to the Friedlander’s impulse equation. The modification was needed as some animal testing was not subjected to shock waves with a steady decay, such as outside the end of a shock tube. Mass scaling was used to scale the reported time duration in the impulse calculation. The scaled peak pressure and impulse values were plotted on a P-I graph with the reported severity. The three severities did not overlap; thus, each severity had its own region on the P-I graph. The severity regions were overlaid with lung damage and eardrum rupture P-I curves. Seven correlations were found between the bTBI regions and the observable injuries. bTBIs are not a new phenomenon, but in the past other serious injuries were more prominent, due to body armor not attenuating the shock wave as effectively. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I want to thank the numerous people who have aided me in my pursuit of my doctorate degree in Explosives Engineering. First, I would like to thank all the people who invested their time in my research. I especially want to thank my advisor, Dr. Johnson, for all her help and encouragement with this research. I want to thank Martin Langenderfer, Jason Ho, Jacob Brinkman, Kelly Williams, Jacob Miller, Mingi Seo, James Seaman, and David Doucet for all their assistance with testing and proofreading of this dissertation. I especially want to thank Jeffery Heniff, Jay Schafler, and the Rock Mechanics staff for building the shock tube for this research. I want to thank Dr. Mulligan for his helpful discussions and insights into shock physics. I want to thank my committee members Dr. Perry, Dr. Lusk, Dr. Worsey, and Dr. Feys for all their helpful discussions and constructive criticisms they each provided throughout my pursuit of my degree. I want to thank Kayla McBride for drawing Figure 2.3. Second I would like to thank all those who provided me encouragement as I pursued my doctorate. I especially want to thank my mother for telling me I can do this. I want to thank everyone from church, school organizations, and friends. I sincerely thank the Marines I served with around the world, who encouraged me and told me not to give up. I would like to thank God for giving me the strength to finish. Finally, I want to dedicate this dissertation to all who have sustained a blast-induced traumatic brain injury in the wars against terrorism in Iraq, Afghanistan, and beyond. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. iv LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... viii LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................................. x NOMENCLATURE .......................................................................................................... xi SECTION 1. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 1 1.1. PROBLEM STATEMENT ................................................................................. 1 1.2. TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY ........................................................................ 3 1.3. RESEARCH APPROACH ................................................................................. 5 1.4. CONTRIBUTION TO SCIENCE ...................................................................... 8 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................ 10 2.1. IMPULSE CALCULATION ............................................................................ 10 2.1.1. Shock Waves .......................................................................................... 10 2.1.2. Impulse ................................................................................................... 19 2.1.3. Friedlander Equation .............................................................................. 21 2.1.4. Shock Tubes ........................................................................................... 24 2.1.5. TNT Equivalency ................................................................................... 30 2.1.6. Pressure-Impulse Graphs ........................................................................ 32 2.2. PRESENT bTBI DATA AND SCALING METHODS ................................... 34 2.2.1. bTBI Testing ........................................................................................... 34 2.2.2. bTBI Scaling ........................................................................................... 36 vi 2.2.2.1. Mass scaling .............................................................................. 36 2.2.2.2. Head scaling .............................................................................. 37 2.3. HUMAN BLAST INJURIES ........................................................................... 40 2.3.1. Lung Damage ......................................................................................... 40 2.3.2. Eardrum Rupture .................................................................................... 42 2.4. SUMMARY ...................................................................................................... 44 3. FORMULATION EQUATION TO CALCULATE IMPULSE AT THE EXIT AND OUTSIDE OF A SHOCK TUBE (OBJECTIVE 1) ....................................... 45 3.1. EXPLOSIVE EQUIVALENTS METHODS NEEDED .................................. 46 3.1.1. Gas Produced Relationship to TNT ........................................................ 49 3.1.2. Density Relationship to TNT ................................................................. 50 3.1.3. Mass Relationship to TNT ..................................................................... 51 3.2. TEST SETUP ................................................................................................... 52 3.3. RESULTS ......................................................................................................... 57 3.3.1. Exit of the Shock Tube ........................................................................... 57 3.3.2. 3 Centimeters from Exit of the Shock Tube ........................................... 59 3.3.3. 6 Centimeters from Exit of the Shock Tube ........................................... 61 3.3.4. 9 Centimeters from Exit of the Shock Tube ........................................... 63 3.3.5. Observed Jet Wind Effect ....................................................................... 65 3.4. MODIFICATIONS TO THE FRIEDLANDER (OBJECTIVE 1) ................... 68 3.5. SUMMARY ...................................................................................................... 75 4. PROPOSED HUMAN BTBI SEVERITY REGIONS (OBJECTIVE 2) ................ 77 4.1. SCALING OF IMPULSE ................................................................................. 77 4.2. SCALING ANIMAL DATA