Novel methodologies to establish injury limits and surrogates to assess trauma risk for high rate impact loading to males and females

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Protective devices and injury risk are evaluated in industry (sports, automotive, defense) through combining injury tolerance data (from cadaveric specimens) and mechanical surrogates (Anthropomorphic Test Devices, ATDs). Injury limits have historically been oversimplified; as such, our understanding of how different individuals respond to impact loads, and how best to protect them, needs greater attention. Current ATDs are limited in their ability to represent the response of the body to impact and are restricted in the types of injuries they can predict. To prevent devastating fractures, better insight into injury mechanisms is needed, along with appropriate surrogates for translation to industry. The long-term objective of this research program is to create a mechanistic understanding of high rate impact injury of biological tissues by developing novel evaluation methods to quantify injuries, and enhanced surrogates to represent them. The current proposal will focus on a unique and poorly understood injury scenario, behind armour blunt trauma (BABT). Ballistic impacts can cause devastating injuries to police and soldiers. While modern armour (body armour, ballistic shields) is largely effective at stopping projectiles, the significant energy transferred leads to large deformations, causing trauma to the user's body. For the upper limb (in contact with ballistic shields) no standards or surrogates exist to evaluate risk, and current standards for the torso (behind body armour) are oversimplified as a single maximum deformation limit. Furthermore, no known studies have examined how these may differ for males and females of various sizes. As such, there exists a clear and substantial need for both improved injury metrics and tools to assess these risks. This proposal has three short-term objectives: (i) characterize injury risk for males and females of a range of sizes using new mathematical relationships, (ii) develop novel biofidelic surrogates with new sensing technologies for injury risk evaluations, and (iii) create an innovative mechanical surrogate for lab testing of rib and sternum fractures. This work represents several novelties in assessing injury risk to the human body. By investigating the complex relationships among biological factors and their influence on fracture we will reduce the number of specimens required to create injury limits, decreasing variability, and improving accuracy of new metrics. Innovative new ATDs will be developed to ensure appropriate load transmission and measurement for a broad range of injurious scenarios. Finally, a novel approach to investigating torso fractures will allow us to develop better standards to protect police and soldiers from these devastating injuries. This proposal will enable timely research on injury risk for males and females, ultimately leading to an improved fundamental understanding of fracture mechanics and better protective standards for Canadian police and Armed Forces.