Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2009. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 82-84). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.S.)--Worcester Polytechnic Institute. / Keywords: Low Velocity Impact; Ballistic Materials; Back Protection. Includes bibliographical references (p. 70-72).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

The objective of this research was to evaluate the impact of current body armor design on physical performance during simulated law enforcement activities. Twenty participants completed three trials of 13 individual activities representative of routine law enforcement activities. Three body armor configurations were evaluated: baseline (i.e., no armor), concealable body armor, and external body armor. Dependent variables included task completion time, heart rate, and center of pressure (COP). Repeated measures ANOVAs were used to test the dependant variables, with Tukey’s HSD post hoc tests used where appropriate. Results showed that the vertical and horizontal components of COP were affected by armor condition, time was not affected by armor condition, and heart rate was found to have significance in the EBA condition. The findings show that there is evidence to suggest that armor can affect the physical performance of wearers as they go about completing physical activities.

Advanced impact protection systems can experience serious damage due to contact with projectiles such as fragments or entire fan blades. To prevent catastrophic damage of such systems will require sophisticated materials and complex designs. The development of advanced ballistic protection systems will place increased emphasis on the use of composite materials and on numerical simulations to assess these new systems due to the cost and limitations of testing facilities and the increased capability of computing power. Example applications include the design of body armor for the protection of personnel, the design of fragment containment systems for aircraft engines, and the design of orbital debris shielding for the protection of manned spacecraft. The current research has developed a new mesomechanical particle-element material model for woven material impact response, a velocity dependent friction model to simulate yarn interactions, and a strain rate dependent model for Kevlar. In recent research, a new class of shear-thickening fluid (STF) composites has been developed for use in impact protection systems. Advancements in the current work include a Bingham shear stress model for STF effects and a new mixture equation of state for the STF Kevlar that captures the thermodynamic properties of the constituents. The numerical methods and material model developed in this research have been validated through the simulation of three dimensional impact experiments on different Kevlar target geometries. This dissertation also provides new data for fragment simulating projectile impacts on Kevlar with different boundary conditions and new data for aluminum cylinder and steel disk projectile impacts on neat and STF Kevlar with different boundary conditions. / text

Thesis(M.S.)--Auburn University, 2007. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 178-195). Also available online

Body armor designs that limit the range-of-motion required for vital law enforcement tasks, such as shooting may be dangerous. Therefore, a posture based biomechanical analysis was performed to determine if upper body joint angles can be used to assess the effects of armor designs on assumed shooting. Participants (n=8) completed a battery of simulated duty tasks for three armor configurations (no armor, concealable, and tactical armor) while motion capture was used to compute included joint angles of the upper extremity and neck. In general, joint angles were impacted by armor configuration, and law enforcement experience (measured in years) significantly impacted their shooting posture. It was also found that the types of tasks performed interacted with shooting stance. This research is a first step at developing a method to analyze body armor designs and their impact on wearers, so that mobility may not need to be sacrificed for additional protective coverage.

The objective of this study is to develop a finite element model of the human thorax with a protective body armor system so that the model can adequately determine the thorax's biodynamical response from a projectile impact. The finite element model of the human thorax consists of the thoracic skeleton, heart, lungs, major arteries, major veins, trachea, and bronchi. The finite element model of the human thorax is validated by comparing the model's results to experimental data obtained from cadavers wearing a protective body armor system undergoing a projectile impact. When the model is deemed valid, a parametric study is performed to determine the components of the model that have the greatest effect on its biodynamical response to a projectile impact.

Thesis(M.S.)--Auburn University, 2006. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references.