Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and Anti-Tank (AT) mines are a significant threat for military vehicles and their occupants. These explosive devices are designed for the destruction and damage of armored and other vehicles, by using them in battle fields on routes of army vehicles. The blast event results in effects like shockwave, fragments, fire, gases, blast overpressure as well as the vertical impulse load. A blast event affects occupants inside the vehicle in the form of various types of injuries (lower leg, spinal, chest, head etc) and trauma.
The Lower leg is the foremost injured body region in a blast event. The term lower leg is used to designate the tibia, fibula and the foot/ankle complex in this paper. Detonations occurring under a vehicle produce high velocity floorboard flutter/deformation and transmit axial loads to lower leg and create injuries.
In order to mitigate lower leg injury, countermeasures like seat mounted footrests, surrogate floors; energy-absorbing aluminum honeycomb footpads and specially-developed foam / rubber carpets are being widely used.
Based on the proven energy absorption technique, TATA Motors has developed a new cost effective polymer-based footpad in which dual mode energy absorption methods are being introduced. These energy absorption methods are:
- 1
Energy absorption through horizontal-vertical air slots
- 2
Energy absorption through crushing of thin polymer walls arranged in particular geometry.
This footpad is highly cost effective when compared to commercially available footpads of similar shape, size & performance.
This paper describes the development of cost effective footpad which is reducing lower leg injuries during blast events.