Evaluation of an Energy Absorbing Truck Seat for Increased Protection from Landmine Blasts.

Mine blast resistant kits, developed by the Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate NVESD, are designed to enhance the survivability of the crew of military 5-ton trucks. The kit includes an energy-absorbing EA seat which is the focus of this report. A full-scale demonstration mine blast of a 5-ton truck was conducted using the full protection kit and included two anthropomorphic manikins to represent the passenger and driver. Only the passenger manikin was seated in the EA seat, while the driver manikin was seated in a standard seat. This report presents the analysis of test data performed by the U.S. Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory USAARL. Results show the standard seat produced lumbar lower back spine compression of 2159 lbs, a value that exceeds the 1500-lb threshold generally used in spinal injury assessment. On the other hand, the EA prototype seat limited the compression of the lower spine to about 1329 lbs, a value which is below injury thresholds. The report concludes that NVESD mine protection kit reduced upward truck accelerations transmitted to the truck occupants and eliminated head contact injuries, and the EA seat reduced lumbar spine compressive forces by 3S percent to a level below tolerance threshold.