Blast injury risks to humans within a military trench

Abstract

In land warfare, trenches serve as vital defensive fortifications, offering protection to soldiers while engaging in combat. However, despite their protective function, soldiers often sustain injuries within these trenches. The lack of corresponding blast data alongside empirical injury reports presents a significant knowledge gap, particularly concerning the blast pressures propagating within trench spaces following nearby explosions. This absence hinders the correlation between blast parameters, trench geometry, and reported injury cases, limiting our understanding of blast-related risks within trenches.

This paper addresses the critical aspect of blast propagation within trench systems, essential for evaluating potential blast injury risks to individuals within these structures. Through advanced computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, the study comprehensively investigates blast injury risks resulting from explosions near military trenches. Employing a sophisticated computational model, the research analyzes the dynamic blast effects within trenches, considering both geometrical parameters and blast characteristics influenced by explosive weight and scaled distance.

The numerical simulations yield valuable insights into the impact of these parameters on blast injury risks, particularly focusing on eardrum rupture, lung injury, and traumatic brain injury levels within the trench. The findings elucidate distinct patterns of high-risk zones, highlighting unique characteristics of internal explosions due to confinement and venting dynamics along the trench. This study underscores the significance of detailed numerical modeling in assessing blast injury risks and provides a novel knowledge base for understanding risks associated with explosives detonating near military trenches. The insights gained contribute to enhancing safety measures in both military and civilian contexts exposed to blast events near trench structures.