Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Assessment of Less Lethal Impact Munitions Using the Facial and Ocular CountermeasUre for Safety (FOCUS) Headform

Assessment of Less Lethal Impact Munitions Using the Facial and Ocular CountermeasUre for Safety... Recent social protests and gatherings in the USA have prompted law enforcement agencies to increase their use of less lethal impact munitions (LLIMs) for crowd control. Media reports and firsthand accounts have indicated that many of the LLIMs are impacting individuals in the head and neck regions. There is very little data available on the risk of injury (ROI) from LLIM impacts to these body regions. The Facial and Ocular CountermeasUre for Safety (FOCUS) surrogate headform was used to assess the ROI (fracture) from LLIM impacts. LLIMs were fired at the FOCUS headform to determine the ROI to the frontal and maxilla bones. Sixteen different LLIMs were assessed which included 12-gauge, 37-mm, and 40-mm caliber projectiles from five manufacturers. The LLIMs included bean bag style, rubber, and foam/sponge projectiles. Each LLIM was tested multiple times to determine the average ROI. The average peak resultant frontal bone force ranged from 2.0 to 7.6 kN which represented ROIs from ~ 30% up to 95%. The average peak resultant maxilla bone force ranged from 1.0 to 4.4 kN which represented ROIs from ~ 30% up to 99%. In general, 12-gauge LLIMs had a lower ROI than the larger caliber LLIMs and the rubber projectiles had a lower ROI than the bean bag style projectiles. Due to the relative thickness, the maxilla has a much lower fracture force than the frontal bone, and this was borne out in the ROIs from the maxilla impacts. Impacts to both bones showed a positive correlation between normalized energy and resultant force (p < 0.01). The slope of the plotted resultant force against the normalized energy for the 12-gauge munitions was significantly smaller compared to larger calibers for both impact sites, frontal (p = 0.031), and maxilla (p < 0.001). http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Human Factors and Mechanical Engineering for Defense and Safety Springer Journals

Assessment of Less Lethal Impact Munitions Using the Facial and Ocular CountermeasUre for Safety (FOCUS) Headform

Download PDF
11 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/springer-journals/assessment-of-less-lethal-impact-munitions-using-the-facial-and-ocular-vxXhciQx8p
Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022
ISSN
2509-8004
eISSN
2367-2544
DOI
10.1007/s41314-022-00045-0
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Recent social protests and gatherings in the USA have prompted law enforcement agencies to increase their use of less lethal impact munitions (LLIMs) for crowd control. Media reports and firsthand accounts have indicated that many of the LLIMs are impacting individuals in the head and neck regions. There is very little data available on the risk of injury (ROI) from LLIM impacts to these body regions. The Facial and Ocular CountermeasUre for Safety (FOCUS) surrogate headform was used to assess the ROI (fracture) from LLIM impacts. LLIMs were fired at the FOCUS headform to determine the ROI to the frontal and maxilla bones. Sixteen different LLIMs were assessed which included 12-gauge, 37-mm, and 40-mm caliber projectiles from five manufacturers. The LLIMs included bean bag style, rubber, and foam/sponge projectiles. Each LLIM was tested multiple times to determine the average ROI. The average peak resultant frontal bone force ranged from 2.0 to 7.6 kN which represented ROIs from ~ 30% up to 95%. The average peak resultant maxilla bone force ranged from 1.0 to 4.4 kN which represented ROIs from ~ 30% up to 99%. In general, 12-gauge LLIMs had a lower ROI than the larger caliber LLIMs and the rubber projectiles had a lower ROI than the bean bag style projectiles. Due to the relative thickness, the maxilla has a much lower fracture force than the frontal bone, and this was borne out in the ROIs from the maxilla impacts. Impacts to both bones showed a positive correlation between normalized energy and resultant force (p < 0.01). The slope of the plotted resultant force against the normalized energy for the 12-gauge munitions was significantly smaller compared to larger calibers for both impact sites, frontal (p = 0.031), and maxilla (p < 0.001).

Journal

Human Factors and Mechanical Engineering for Defense and Safety – Springer Journals

Published: Dec 1, 2022

Keywords: FOCUS headform; Less lethal; Impact; Munition; Face

References

  • The anatomy of plastic bullet damage and crowd control
    Metress, EK; Metress, SP
  • Plastic bullet injuries in Northern Ireland: experiences during a week of civil disturbance
    Steele, JA
  • Injuries caused by the attenuated energy projectile: the latest less lethal option
    Maguire, K
  • Penetrating injuries from "less lethal" beanbag munitions
    Olson, KA
  • Design and injury assessment criteria for blunt ballistic impacts
    Bir, C; Viano, DC
  • Development of biomechanical response corridors of the thorax to blunt ballistic impacts
    Bir, C; Viano, D; King, A
  • Ballistic impact to the forehead, zygoma, and mandible: comparison of human and frangible dummy face biomechanics
    Viano, DC
  • Tolerance of the skull to blunt ballistic temporo-parietal impact
    Raymond, D
  • Evaluation of eye injury risk from projectile shooting toys using the FOCUS headform
    Bisplinghoff, J; Duma, S
  • Do infield softball masks effectively reduce facial fracture risk?
    Morris, TP; Gellner, RA; Rowson, S
  • Development and validation of a synthetic eye and orbit for estimating the potential for globe rupture due to specific impact conditions
    Kennedy, EA
  • Injuries from less-lethal weapons during the George Floyd protests in Minneapolis
    Kaske, EA