BDAM: A Blast Dose Accumulation Methodology for Heavy Weapon Firing in Actual Combat Scenarios

Karagozian and Case, Inc. (K&C), supported by the Center of Injury Biomechanics at Virginia Tech (VT-CIB) and Dr. Michael Shields (Professor and Fellow at the Hopkins Extreme Materials Institute), are pleased to present this Phase I SBIR proposal to develop a computational toolset that quantifies blast exposure and risk injury scores to service members due to repeated heavy weapon firing events. The toolset, which we coin BDAM for the Blast Dose Accumulation Methodology, will be designed as a modular software plug-in for future transition and commercialization as a user-friendly computing platform. BDAM will be able to accurately quantify the blast dose to a service member from a single blast exposure, as well as predictively accumulate blast doses from repeated blast dose exposures. BDAM will be based on novel computational models, backed by both experimental and clinical injury data. The BDAM toolset will be used by DTRA Reachback, as a primary initial user, with a broader goal to transition as a tool for battalion commanders, command surgeons, and other defense medical and health researchers and decision-makers in the future.