Biomechanical model of the thorax under blast loading: a three dimensional numerical study

Injury mechanisms due to high speed dynamic loads, such as blasts, are not well understood. These research fields are widely investigated in the literature, both at the experimental and numerical levels, and try to answer questions about the safety and efficiency of protection devices or biomechanical traumas. At a numerical level, the development of powerful mathematical models tends to study tolerance limits and injury mechanisms in order to avoid experimental tests which cannot be easily conducted. In a military framework, developing a fighter/soldier numerical model can help to the understanding of many traumas which are specific to soldier injuries, like mines, ballistic impacts or blast traumas. The aim of this study is to investigate the consequences of violent loads in terms of human body response, submitting a developed and validated three-dimensional thorax finite element (FE) model to blast loadings. Specific formulations of FE methods are used to simulate this loading, and its consequence on the biomechanical model. Mechanical parameters such as pressure in the air field and also in internal organs are observed, and these values are compared to the experimental data in the literature. This study gives encouraging results and allows going further in soldier trauma investigations. Copyright (c) 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.