A HUMAN surrogate, or isomorph, is being developed by Australian defence
scientists to help them work out how bomb blasts kill.
鈥淭here is a huge need for dummies that work well in a blast situation,鈥� says
Tom Gibson, the director of Sydney-based Human Impact Engineering. Bomb blasts
cause high-intensity pressure waves that can inflict fatal internal injuries as
they pass through the body鈥攁nd badly constructed body armour can actually
make matters worse. But crash-test dummies are unsuitable for testing body
armour. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 measure any pressure effects because they have no liquid in
them,鈥� says Alex Krstic, isomorph project leader at the Defence Science and
Technology Organisation in Salisbury, South Australia. Cadavers are far from
ideal blast subjects as tissue properties change after death.
The isomorphs will have 鈥渟kin鈥� made of reconstituted chamois leather, muscle
and internal organs made of gelatin and other lifelike substances, bones made of
calcium composite, and membranes made of silicone. Sensors monitor everything
from temperature and pressure changes to the breaking strains of bone. Krstic
expects to have a complete surrogate soldier ready by the end of the year.
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Isomorph legs have already been sold to Canadian researchers who want to test
military boots designed to protect against landmine blasts. 鈥淭he injury patterns
correlate well with injury patterns from field data,鈥� says Mellick Chehade, an
orthopaedic surgeon at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, who works on the isomorph
project.