Survivability assessment of a soldier wearing a ballistic helmet collided by a non-penetrating high speed projectile

Abstract

Since combat capability depends on the survivability of a soldier, it is important to estimate the survivability properly. Head and neck injuries are major incidents that affect the survivability in battle field. Although a soldier usually wears a ballistic helmet, he can be injured by a ballistic impact which results in the deformation and energy propagation of the helmet. Previous research activities focused on the head injury only. In this study, a finite element model including the neck as well as head was developed using LS-DYNA. It consists of a skull, brain, cerebrospinal fluid, cervical vertebrae, neck muscle, helmet, and bullet. The helmet consists of a shell and interior cushion system. The bullet speeds of 250, 360, 410 and 460 m/s were used for the simulation. The pressure of the brain and von Mises stress/strain of the skull and brain were calculated. Head and neck injury criteria were used to assess the survivability of a soldier. Effects of firearm type on head and neck injuries were also investigated. Generally, the head injury turned out to be more dangerous than the neck injury under the same condition. Among firearms, the riffle type turned out to be generally much more dangerous than the pistol type.