Publications
25 results found
Nguyen TT, Breeze J, Masouros S, 2022, Penetration of Energised Metal Fragments to Porcine Thoracic Tissues, Journal of Biomechanical Engineering, ISSN: 0148-0731
Energised fragments from explosive devices have been the most common mechanism of injury to both military personnel and civilians in recent conflicts and terrorist attacks. Fragments that penetrate into the thoracic cavity are strongly associated with death due to the inherent vulnerability of the underlying structures. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of fragment-simulating projectiles (FSPs) to tissues of the thorax in order to identify the thresholds of impact velocity for perforation through these tissues and the resultant residual velocity of the FSPs. A gas-gun system was used to launch 0.78-g cylindrical and 1.13-g spherical FSPs at intact porcine thoracic tissues from different impact locations. The sternum and rib bones were the most resistant to perforation, followed by the scapula and intercostal muscle. For both FSPs, residual velocity following perforation was linearly proportional to impact velocity. These findings can be used in the development of numerical tools for predicting the medical outcome of explosive events, which in turn can inform the design of public infrastructure, of personal protection, and of medical emergency response.
Rankin I, Nguyen T, McMenemy L, et al., 2021, The injury mechanism of traumatic amputation, Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, Vol: 9, ISSN: 2296-4185
Traumatic amputation has been one of the most defining injuries associated with explosive devices. An understanding of the mechanism of injury is essential in order to reduce its incidence and devastating consequences to the individual and their support network. In this study, traumatic amputation is reproduced using high-velocity environmental debris in an animal cadaveric model. The study findings are combined with previous work to describe fully the mechanism of injury as follows. The shock wave impacts with the casualty, followed by energised projectiles (environmental debris or fragmentation) carried by the blast. These cause skin and soft tissue injury, followed by skeletal trauma which compounds to produce segmental and multifragmental fractures. A critical injury point is reached, whereby the underlying integrity of both skeletal and soft tissues of the limb has been compromised. The blast wind that follows these energised projectiles completes the amputation at the level of the disruption, and traumatic amputation occurs. These findings produce a shift in the understanding of traumatic amputation due to blast from a mechanism predominately thought mediated by primary and tertiary blast, to now include secondary blast mechanisms, and inform change for mitigative strategies.
Nguyen TT, Carpanen D, Rankin I, et al., 2020, Mapping the risk of fracture of the tibia from penetrating fragments, Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, Vol: 8, Pages: 1-11, ISSN: 2296-4185
Penetrating injuries are commonly inflicted in attacks with explosive devices. The extremities, and especially the leg, are the most commonly affected body areas, presenting high risk of infection, slow recovery, and threat of amputation. The aim of this study was to quantify the risk of fracture to the anteromedial, posterior, and lateral aspects of the tibia from a metal fragment-simulating projectile (FSP). A gas gun system and a 0.78-g cylindrical FSP were employed to perform tests on an ovine tibia model. The results from the animal study were subsequently scaled to obtain fracture-risk curves for the human tibia using the cortical thickness ratio. The thickness of the surrounding soft tissue was also taken into account when assessing fracture risk. The lateral cortex of the tibia was found to be most susceptible tofracture,whose impact velocity at 50% risk of EF1+, EF2+, EF3+, and EF4+ fracture types –according to the modified Winquist-Hansen classification –were 174, 190, 212,and 282 m/s respectively. The findings of this study will be used to increase the fidelity of predictive models of projectile penetration.
Rankin I, Nguyen TT, Carpanen D, et al., 2020, A new understanding of the mechanism of injury to the pelvis and lower limbs in blast, Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, Vol: 8, ISSN: 2296-4185
Dismounted complex blast injury (DCBI) has been one of the most severe forms of trauma sustained in recent conflicts. This injury has been partially attributed to limb flail; however, the full causative mechanism has not yet been fully determined. Soil ejecta has been hypothesized as a significant contributor to the injury but remains untested. In this study, a small-animal model of gas-gun mediated high velocity sand blast was used to investigate this mechanism. The results demonstrated a correlation between increasing sand blast velocity and injury patterns of worsening severity across the trauma range. This study is the first to replicate high velocity sand blast and the first model to reproduce the pattern of injury seen in DCBI. These findings are consistent with clinical and battlefield data. They represent a significant change in the understanding of blast injury, producing a new mechanistic theory of traumatic amputation. This mechanism of traumatic amputation is shown to be high velocity sand blast causing the initial tissue disruption, with the following blast wind and resultant limb flail completing the amputation. These findings implicate high velocity sand blast, in addition to limb flail, as a critical mechanism of injury in the dismounted blast casualty.
Nguyen TT, Meek G, Breeze J, et al., 2020, Gelatine backing affects the performance of single-layer ballistic-resistant materials against blast fragments, Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, Vol: 8, Pages: 1-10, ISSN: 2296-4185
Penetrating trauma by energized fragments is the most common injury from explosive devices, the main threat in the contemporary battlefield. Such devices produce projectiles dependent upon their design, including preformed fragments, casings, glass, or stones; these are subsequently energized to high velocities and cause serious injuries to the body. Current body armor focuses on the essential coverage, which is mainly the thoracic and abdominal area, and can be heavy and cumbersome. In addition, there may be coverage gaps that can benefit from the additional protection provided by one or more layers of lightweight ballistic fabrics. This study assessed the performance of single layers of commercially available ballistic protective fabrics such as Kevlar®, Twaron®, and Dyneema®, in both woven and knitted configurations. Experiments were carried out using a custom-built gas-gun system, with a 0.78-g cylindrical steel fragment simulating projectile (FSP) as the impactor, and ballistic gelatine as the backing material. FSP velocity at 50% risk of material perforation, gelatine penetration, and high-risk wounding to soft tissue, as well as the depth of penetration (DoP) against impact velocity and the normalized energy absorption were used as metrics to rank the performance of the materials tested. Additional tests were performed to investigate the effect of not including a soft-tissue simulant backing material on the performance of the fabrics. The results show that a thin layer of ballistic material may offer meaningful protection against the penetration of this FSP. Additionally, it is essential to ensure a biofidelic boundary condition as the protective efficacy of fabrics was markedly altered by a gelatine backing.
Nguyen TT, Carpanen D, Stinner D, et al., 2020, The risk of fracture to the tibia from a fragment simulating projectile, Journal of The Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials, Vol: 102, ISSN: 1751-6161
Penetrating injuries due to fragments energised by an explosive event are life threatening and are associated with poor clinical and functional outcomes. The tibia is the long bone most affected in survivors of explosive events, yet the risk of penetrating injury to it has not been quantified. In this study, an injury-risk assessment of penetrating injury to the tibia was conducted using a gas-gun system with a 0.78-g cylindrical fragment simulating projectile. An ovine tibia model was used to generate the injury-risk curves and human cadaveric tests were conducted to validate and scale the results of the ovine model. The impact velocity at 50% risk (±95% confidence intervals) for EF1+, EF2+, EF3+, and EF4+ fractures to the human tibia – using the modified Winquist-Hansen classification – was 271 ± 30, 363 ± 46, 459 ± 102, and 936 ± 182 m/s, respectively. The scaling factor for the impact velocity from cadaveric ovine to human was 2.5. These findings define the protection thresholds to improve the injury outcomes for fragment penetrating injury to the tibia.
Rankin IA, Thuy-Tien N, Carpanen D, et al., 2019, Restricting Lower Limb Flail is Key to Preventing Fatal Pelvic Blast Injury, ANNALS OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING, Vol: 47, Pages: 2232-2240, ISSN: 0090-6964
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- Citations: 6
Nguyen TT, Masouros S, 2019, Penetration of Blast Fragments to the Thorax, International Research Council On Biomechanics Of Injury 2019
Nguyen TT, Masouros S, 2019, Penetration of Blast Fragments to the Thorax, International Research Council On Biomechanics Of Injury
Nguyen TT, Meek G, Masouros S, 2019, Blast Fragment Protection for The Extremities, Light Weight Armour for Defense & Security 2019
Nguyen T-T, Pearce AP, Carpanen D, et al., 2019, Experimental platforms to study blast injury, Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps, Vol: 165, Pages: 33-37, ISSN: 2052-0468
Injuries sustained due to attacks from explosive weapons are multiple in number, complex in nature, and not well characterised. Blast may cause damage to the human body by the direct effect of overpressure, penetration by highly energised fragments, and blunt trauma by violent displacements of the body. The ability to reproduce the injuries of such insults in a well-controlled fashion is essential in order to understand fully the unique mechanism by which they occur, and design better treatment and protection strategies to alleviate the resulting poor long-term outcomes. This paper reports a range of experimental platforms that have been developed for different blast injury models, their working mechanism, and main applications. These platforms include the shock tube, split-Hopkinson bars, the gas gun, drop towers and bespoke underbody blast simulators.
Nguyen TT, Carpanen D, Tear G, et al., 2018, Fragment Penetrating Injury to the tibia, Personal Armour Systems Symposia 2018
Brown KA, Butler BJ, Sory D, et al., 2018, Challenges in the Characterization of Failure and Resilience of Biological Materials, 20th Biennial Conference of the Topical-Group of the American-Physical-Society (APS) on Shock Compression of Condensed Matter (SCCM), Publisher: AMER INST PHYSICS, ISSN: 0094-243X
Nguyen T-TN, Tear GR, Masouros SD, et al., 2018, Fragment Penetrating Injury to Long Bones, 20th Biennial Conference of the Topical-Group of the American-Physical-Society (APS) on Shock Compression of Condensed Matter (SCCM), Publisher: AMER INST PHYSICS, ISSN: 0094-243X
Nguyen TN, Sory DR, Rankin SM, et al., 2018, Platform development for primary blast injury studies, Trauma (United Kingdom), ISSN: 1460-4086
© 2018, The Author(s) 2018. Explosion-related injuries are currently the most commonly occurring wounds in modern conflicts. They are observed in both military and civilian theatres, with complex injury pathophysiologies. Primary blast injuries are the most frequently encountered critical injuries experienced by victims close to the explosion. They are caused by large and rapid pressure changes of the blast waves which produce a wide range of loading patterns resulting in varied injuries. Well-characterised experimental loading devices which can reproduce the real mechanical characteristics of blast loadings on biological specimens in in vivo, ex vivo, and in vitro models are essential in determining the injury mechanisms. This paper discusses the performance and application of platforms, including shock tubes, mechanical testing machines, drop-weight rigs, and split-Hopkinson pressure bar, with regards to the replication of primary blast.
arora H, nila A, Vitharana K, et al., 2017, Microstructural consequences of blast lung injury characterised with digital volume correlation, Frontiers in Materials, Vol: 4, ISSN: 2296-8016
This study focuses on microstructural changes that occur within the mammalian lung when subject to blast and how these changes influence strain distributions within the tissue. Shock tube experiments were performed to generate the blast injured specimens (cadaveric Sprague-Dawley rats). Blast overpressures of 100 and 180 kPa were studied. Synchrotron tomography imaging was used to capture volumetric image data of lungs. Specimens were ventilated using a custom-built system to study multiple inflation pressures during each tomography scan. These data enabled the first digital volume correlation (DVC) measurements in lung tissue to be performed. Quantitative analysis was performed to describe the damaged architecture of the lung. No clear changes in the microstructure of the tissue morphology were observed due to controlled low- to moderate-level blast exposure. However, significant focal sites of injury were observed using DVC, which allowed the detection of bias and concentration in the patterns of strain level. Morphological analysis corroborated the findings, illustrating that the focal damage caused by a blast can give rise to diffuse influence across the tissue. It is important to characterize the non-instantly fatal doses of blast, given the transient nature of blast lung in the clinical setting. This research has highlighted the need for better understanding of focal injury and its zone of influence (alveolar interdependency and neighboring tissue burden as a result of focal injury). DVC techniques show great promise as a tool to advance this endeavor, providing a new perspective on lung mechanics after blast.
Nguyen T-TN, Proud WG, 2017, An Investigation of A Reticulated Foam - Perforated Steel Sheet Combination As A Blast Mitigation Structure, 19th Biennial American-Physical-Society (APS) Conference on Shock Compression of Condensed Matter (SCCM), Publisher: AMER INST PHYSICS, ISSN: 0094-243X
Badham H, Chalmers M, Thuy-Tien NN, et al., 2017, The Propagation of Blast Pulses through Dampened Granular Media, 19th Biennial American-Physical-Society (APS) Conference on Shock Compression of Condensed Matter (SCCM), Publisher: AIP Publishing, ISSN: 1551-7616
The propagation of stress through granular and dampened granular material has been reported previously, the addition of significant amounts of liquid in granular beds causes the mechanism of transmission of blast from one of percolation through the bed pores to one of stress transmission through the granules of the bed. It has been shown, however, that limited amounts liquid can retard propagation within blast-loaded beds by approximately an order of magnitude. This paper presents data on percolation through dampened granular beds using a shock tube as the pressure driver. The effect of particle shape and size was investigated using angular grains of quartz sand as well as smooth glass microspheres. The effect of addition of small amounts of liquids is presented.
Butler BJ, Sory DR, Nguyen T-TN, et al., 2017, Characterization of Focal Muscle Compression Under Impact Loading, 19th Biennial American-Physical-Society (APS) Conference on Shock Compression of Condensed Matter (SCCM), Publisher: AMER INST PHYSICS, ISSN: 0094-243X
Nguyen TT, 2016, The Characterisation of A Shock Tube System for Blast Injury Studies
Eftaxiopoulou T, Barnett-Vanes A, Arora H, et al., 2016, Prolonged but not short duration blast waves elicit acute inflammation in a rodent model of primary blast limb trauma, Injury, Vol: 47, Pages: 625-632, ISSN: 0020-1383
BackgroundBlast injuries from conventional and improvised explosive devices account for 75% of injuries from current conflicts; of these over 70% involve the limbs. Variable duration and magnitude of blast wave loading occurs in real-life explosions and is hypothesised to cause different injuries. While a number of in-vivo models report the inflammatory response to blast injuries, the extent of this response has not been investigated with respect to the duration of the primary blast wave. The relevance is that explosions in open air are of short duration compared to those in confined spaces. MethodsHind limbs of adult Sprauge-Dawley rats were subjected to focal isolated primary blast waves of varying overpressure (1.8-3.65kPa) and duration (3.0-11.5ms), utilising a shock tube and purpose built experimental rig. Rats were monitored during and after blast. At 6 and 24hrs after exposure blood, lungs, liver and muscle tissue were collected and prepared for histology and flow cytometry.ResultsAt 6hrs increases in circulating neutrophils and CD43Lo/His48Hi monocytes were observed in rats subjected to longer duration blast waves. This was accompanied by increases in circulating pro-inflammatory chemo/cytokines KC and IL-6. No changes were observed with shorter duration blast waves irrespective of overpressure. In all cases, no histological damage was observed in muscle, lung or liver. By 24hrs post-blast all inflammatory parameters had normalised. ConclusionsWe report the development of a rodent model of primary blast limb trauma that is the first to highlight an important role played by blast wave duration and magnitude in initiating acute inflammatory response following limb injury in the absence of limb fracture or penetrating trauma. The combined biological and mechanical method developed can be used to further understand the complex effects of blast waves in a range of different tissues and organs in-vivo.
Proud WG, Nguyen T-TN, Bo C, et al., 2015, The High-Strain Rate Loading of Structural Biological Materials, METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A-PHYSICAL METALLURGY AND MATERIALS SCIENCE, Vol: 46A, Pages: 4559-4566, ISSN: 1073-5623
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- Citations: 4
Nguyen TT, Davey T, Proud W, 2014, Percolation of Gas and Attenuation of Shock Waves through Granular Beds and Perforated Sheets, New Trends in Research of Energetic Materials
Wilgeroth JM, Nguyen T-TN, Proud WG, 2014, Interaction between blast wave and reticulated foam: assessing the potential for auditory protection systems, 18th Joint Int Conf of the APS Topical-Grp on Shock Compress of Condensed Matter / 24th Int Conf of the Int-Assoc-for-the-Advancement-of-High-Pressure-Sci-and-Technol, Publisher: IOP PUBLISHING LTD, ISSN: 1742-6588
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- Citations: 1
Nguyen T-TN, Wilgeroth JM, Proud WG, 2014, Controlling blast wave generation in a shock tube for biological applications, 18th Joint Int Conf of the APS Topical-Grp on Shock Compress of Condensed Matter / 24th Int Conf of the Int-Assoc-for-the-Advancement-of-High-Pressure-Sci-and-Technol, Publisher: IOP PUBLISHING LTD, ISSN: 1742-6588
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- Citations: 20
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