Research on the Evaluation Method of Human Traumatic Brain Injury in a Strong Shock Wave Environments

In recent years' regional and local conflicts, with the continuous development of military technology, various new types of weaponry and large-caliber ammunitions have been widely used. As a result, the proportion of craniocerebral injuries to personnel caused by blast shock waves has increased significantly. Since blast-induced traumatic brain injury involve multiple injury types and complex action mechanisms, to quickly explore the situation of craniocerebral injuries to personnel under the action of blast shock waves and evaluate the protective effects of individual equipment, it is urgent to establish a scientific and reasonable comprehensive evaluation method for craniocerebral injuries. Based on the "short-term" and "long-term" injury effects of blast shock waves on the human craniocerebral region, relying on the realistic physical manikin models with the characteristics of Chinese body dimensions and the sensor system, this paper systematically measured the variation process over time of indicators such as the overpressure on the manikin models' head, the centroid acceleration&angular velocity of the head, and the force&moment of the neck in the shock tube test environment by simulating different strong shock wave environments. And comprehensive injury judgments were made by combining the existing mature injury determination criteria and judgment bases. The results showed that there were significant differences in the action durations of different injury indicators acting on the manikin models. The action time of the shock wave overpressure was relatively short, followed by the centroid acceleration of the head and the force of the upper neck, and the action time of the angular velocity of the centroid of the head and the moment of the upper neck was the longest. Under the action environment of a 77 kPa shock wave pressure, the risk of brain injury caused by the shock wave was relatively low. However, as the shock wave pressure increased to 203 kPa, the risk of brain injury increased significantly, and severe brain injury might be caused.