Mine Blast Attenuating Seating

The objective of this Phase I proposal is to demonstrate a mineblast attenuating crew seat system that prevents spinal compression injuries by attenuating the accelerative forces caused by landmine detonations. Design acceleration pulses for military tactical vehicle seats will be defined and quantified. Various energy absorber devices and design parameters will be evaluated and selected for mine blast attenuating crew seat applications. A mine blast attenuating crew seat design concept will be demonstrated along with a system weight and cost budgets. A computer simulation including energy absorber/seat/dummy models will be presented to prove the crew seat design concept. Taking advantages of using extensive mine blast attenuating seat test data and validated numerical energy absorber/seat/dummy models based on a current contract between ArmorWorks and Army Research Laboratory will expedite the success of this SBIR Phase I program.