Computer modeling of thoracic response to blast

Primary blast injury affects the gas-containing structures of the body. Damage to the lungs with resultant respiratory insufficiency and arterial embolization of air from alveolar pulmonary venous fistulae is the predominant cause of morbidity and mortality following high-level blast exposure. In an effort to generate a widely applicable damage-risk criterion for thoracic injury from blast we are developing a complex computer finite element model (FEM) of the thorax. Taking an engineering approach, a horizontal cross-section of the thorax is divided into small discrete units (finite elements) of homogeneous structure. The necessary physical properties (density, bulk modulus, etc.) are then determined for each element. Specifying the material constants and geometry of the elements, the computer can load the surface of the structure with some force-time function (blast pressure-time history) and calculate the resultant physical events such as displacement, compression, stress, strain, etc. Computer predictions of pressure wave phenomena in the lung parenchyma are compared with trans-bronchially measured pressures in blast-exposed animals. The model should prove useful in assessing the risk of blast injury in diverse overpressure environments and may give insight into pathophysiologic mechanisms and strategies for protection.