Browsing by Author "Bloodworth-Race, Susie"
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Item Open Access Capturing blast impact on helmets(Cranfield University, 2020-11-27 10:21) Bloodworth-Race, SusieWhen shielded from the fireball and fragmentation of an explosion, the blastwave can still cause multiple injuries, with increasing prevalence of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) noticed amongst survivors. Relatively low peak overpressures can result in Blast-Induced Mild TBI (bTBI), with significant deterioration in mental health manifesting as anxiety, behavioural changes, even loss of fine motor control, symptoms which can often be confused with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).The image shows a helmet blast impact from a compressed air shocktube, the resulting movement of head and helmet captured with high speed video. The moment of impact can be seen in the top sector with the shockwave captured as a vertical band of compressed air just behind the front of the head. The helmet is lifted, rotated backwards, held by the chinstrap and bounced back down onto the head, resulting in multiple possible mechanisms for bTBI.Item Open Access Quantification of fragmentation capture materials and an assessment of the viability of economical alternatives: a preliminary study(The Royal Society, 2023-09-11) Read, James; Ritchie, Thomas; Brown, Laura; Thawani, Bonny; Bloodworth-Race, Susie; Hazael, Rachael; Critchley, RichardHigh pressure, high temperature events need to be quantified experimentally. Where fragmentation occurs i.e. against Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), there is a requirement for both a reliable and repeatable measurement of numerous experimental metrics. Typically, the most critical is calculating the energy absorbed by the target material, to characterise target performance. This is achieved by detonating a device and capturing a proportion of the fragmentation in a suitable material that can achieve successful recovery of all fragmentation produced. Therefore, allowing the estimation of the target’s response using the depth of penetration within the capture material which allows the calculation of energy absorption. The current standardised fragmentation capture material used within the United Kingdom is known as strawboard. Although effective, this material is both expensive and limited in its availability. This study explores the classification of strawboard to provide a suitable baseline to compare against Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF) and flooring underlay which represent two more economically friendly alternatives on the open market. It was found that the uniformity of response for the MDF material was better than that of strawboard, due to its reproducibility between batches and velocity ranges. To further explore this phenomena, high explosive trials were conducted, further demonstrating MDF to be a viable, reliable, and cheaper alternative.Item Open Access Sustainable and economical alternatives to fragment capture materials in explosive and ballistic trials(Springer, 2024-03-12) Read, James; Quinlan, Philip; Bloodworth-Race, Susie; Hazael, Rachael; Critchley, RichardStrawboard has been utilised as a fragmentation capture material since the 1960s, mainly employed to capture fragments from explosives and explosive devices from arena trials of munitions. As this material has historically been calibrated to a known standard, it has a proven record of allowing research establishments to ascertain the velocity of a fragment based on the depth of penetration of the strawboard. During the time of calibration, strawboard was used as a common building material which was both widely available and relatively affordable; however, due to the recent economic crisis and geopolitical supply issues, this is no longer the case. Building on initial testing, this paper investigates alternatives to strawboard to determine if a cheaper, more readily available material can be used instead. The alternatives are compared and judged based on the NATO ARSP-03 guideline for capture material which includes metrics such as price and attainability, as well as assessing environmental impact and its ability to be used as a viable alternative to strawboard in an explosive environment. Based on these NATO guidelines, explosive fragmentation and ballistic experiments were conducted, and ten materials were tested based on the following criteria: Handling, Density, Flammability, Calibration, Cost and Availability. Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF) was found to be a suitable alternative to strawboard. The data demonstrates that it provides the same capture performance as strawboard at approximately a quarter of the cost and is far more readily available. Other materials also showed potential and further testing should be undertaken to validate these materials as alternatives to MDF.