Mine Blast Resistant Energy Absorbing Crew Seat for Ground Armored Vehicles

An innovative approach for tank seats for Interim Army Vehicle (IAV) and Future Combat System (FCS) Ground Vehicles is proposed. The innovation consists of using metal foam that can be easily retrofitted to existing and future army vehicles. Two seatdesigns for a driver's seat and a crew seat are proposed. The goal is to reduce occupant injuries through reduction in vertical dynamic loads at the seat level of 20 g's during a duration of no more than 7 ms due to a blast loading condition of 1840 g'sover 0.32 ms on the seat floor. Using advanced finite element modeling of the seat/occupant system under crash impulse loads, the seat design will be optimized and preliminary designs will be developed for improved occupant safety. Two different designswill be released to Army. (P-020578) The energy absorbing elements of the proposed seat design has the potential for widespread use in both government and commercial vehicles. While the Army will be the immediate beneficiary of this work, manufacturers of commercial vehicles such as HUMVEE'scan incorporate the energy absorbing elements into their seat design.