Blast Overpressure Studies with Animals and Man: Nonauditory Damage Risk Assessment for Simulated 155mm Self-Propelled Howitzer Blast.

Abstract : This study was undertaken to establish the nonauditory injury subthreshold in a simulated muzzle blast environment like that produced when tiring an M109 155 mm self-propelled howitzer (SPH) with one or more hatches open. An explosively driven shock tube, the hull of an M108 SPH, and a six-plate reflector system were used to produce the required muzzle blast signature. Using as many as 40 anesthetized sheep for each exposure condition, safe no-injury levels were established with an occasional minor upper respiratory tract lesion. These levels were 24 kPa for 6 blasts and 20 kPa for 25 to 100 blasts.