A Mobile Application for Estimating Blast Overpressure Exposure during Military Weapon and Breaching Explosive Training

This project addresses the critical need for tools to assess and mitigate the risks posed by explosive threats to military personnel, special weapons and tactics (SWAT) teams, and commercial operators during training and real-world operations. Repeated exposure to blast overpressure from heavy weapons, breaching, and explosive devices has been linked to long-term health effects such as cognitive deficits, memory impairment, brain inflammation, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and neurodegenerative diseases. These risks are further intensified in enclosed spaces like shoot houses, tunnels, buildings, and mines, where blast waves create complex reflections and amplifications. Despite these known dangers, there is currently no standardized approach to optimizing the safety protocols to protect the service members during these training scenarios. To address this gap, CFD Research has previously developed the blast overpressure (BOP) tool1–3 which can predict overpressure exposure on service members and show blast overpressure zones around the weapon systems in a training range. The tool has been integrated with the BOP characteristics for sixteen Tier-1 weapon systems, defined in the DoD guidance, and has been validated using the pressure trace data collected by Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) and CONQUER (Combat and Training Queryable Exposure/Event Repository) operational monitoring program using statically placed pencil probes. This BOP Tool was developed for simulating overpressures in open spaces (accommodating only ground reflections) and was designed for use in desktop or laptop environment. Furthermore, a prototype mobile app (for open spaces) is being developed to demonstrate the use of BOP tool in mobile environment. The current BOP tool's reliance on laptops/desktops limits field use, but advancements in mobile device computing power now enable its migration to mobile platforms, enhancing usability for range managers and service members. The prototype mobile app currently only accommodates blast overpressure prediction in open spaces and supports 2D visualization of the blast scenes. Building upon this work, here, we propose to adapt the current app into a new mobile application that can predict blast overpressure exposure in both open and enclosed environments, visualizing spatial distributions of blast overpressure zones. The new mobile application will accommodate open and enclosed spaces, integrate user inputs, 3D visualization for closed spaces, and supports real-time scenario modeling for multiple weapon systems. An end-user-informed design approach will be used. In Phase II, the tool will expand to include iOS compatibility, virtual service member analytics, onboard computing, and advanced features like 3D structure reconstruction. This effort will provide military and commercial sectors with a portable tool to optimize training safety protocols, reduce health risks, and improve operational readiness.