Biological materials and blast mitigation.

One of the hall-marks of blast injury is the damage of soft tissues in the human body. One of the main issues with treatment is localising the injury and applying appropriate treatment.
The literature related to injuries from blast weapons, in both military and terrorist scenarios, indicate the extensive incidence of a range of injuries, from Blast Lung to Bowel and other soft tissue damage. In particular, clinical reports from Israel, indicate the uniqueness and significant mortality from lung and bowel injury from blast. These are often associated with a range of added complications due to infection from widespread tearing of tissues.
Progress has been made on the understanding of the limits of the human body with respect to the forces and duration of blast in areas of Blast Lung. However, the pathophysiology of blast on other viscera is poorly understood, specifically intra-luminal changes of the hollow viscera.
Current blast protective equipment is large and cumbersome, with impaired mobility, and cannot readily be translated to vehicular protection. Under vehicle blast has somewhat been mitigated by V-shape hulls, however, offers little protection against directed blast.
A logical extension is to reduce the incidence of such forms of blast injury in the first instance. This project is to directly address the area of blast mitigation and effects. Understand the effect of reduction of the initial blast insult