Understanding the physical mechanisms by which blast waves interact with their surroundings is paramount to protecting the safety of armed service personnel and equipment. This study evaluates and discusses modern technology used in blast pressure measurement as it relates to primary blast injuries such as traumatic brain injury. Factors influencing primary blast injury were established as peak overpressure, impulse, number, and frequency of shock impacts based on a literature review. A simulated confined-corridor breaching environment was used to establish the potential for variability in these key parameters depending on location in a confined blast environment. Wearable blast pressure monitors were compared experimentally to not only laboratory grade pressure transducers but also simulated and empirically modeled blast pressure and impulse predictions at scaled distances between 3.1 and 13.6m/kg1/3
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the most commonly reported injuries in armed service members returning from combat zones [1, 2]. Approximately one-quarter of service members returning from deployment report sustaining a TBI with 60% of these cases attributed to primary blast injury, injury from shock overpressure resulting from blast exposure. A recent study by the United States Marine Corps indicates a steady rise in the number of reported TBI cases between 2015 and 2019, with as many as 14,000 Marines reporting at least one TBI, and 5600 reporting multiple [3].
