Utilizing Vehicle Response Data From Under Body Blast Tests

Protecting crew occupants has always been the primary concern for vehicle survivability design. The historical approach to maximizing survivability was to protect the occupants by considering what conventional threat impacts the vehicle, and in which location. For instance, the frontal arc of a tank has traditionally been designed to defeat incoming tank gun fire. The recent increase in large unconventional under-body blast attacks by a terrorist enemy shows that any area of the vehicle can be targeted. These attacks have led to different type of crew injuries necessitating the development of metrics in Live-Fire to understand how to better protect occupants from these new threats.