Physical Surrogate Leg to Evaluate Blast Mine Injury

Antipersonnel blast landmines pose a significant threat in affected areas, with injuries to the lower extremity and amputation being common. Addressing a need for injury prediction and protection evaluation, a 50th percentile physical surrogate lower leg was developed incorporating the load transmission paths in the lower leg. Biofidelic and frangible materials were evaluated and selected based on high deformation rate properties compared to those for human tissues. The predicted leg injuries from experimental blast testing were in agreement with injury data for unprotected and protected legs. Post-test examination was found to be the only consistent and reliable evaluation method for predicting injury outcome, and an evaluation based on tissue damage was shown to be sensitive to changes in loading conditions, not possible with existing approaches. This study identified the severity of calcaneal fracture as the primary determinant of serious injury, which should be the focus of future protection development.