Modeling Injury Risk From Multiple-Impulse, Area-Distributed Flash-bangs Using an Uncertainty Bounding Approach to...

Area of Science:

• Military engineering and operational safety
• Auditory risk assessment and modeling

Background:

• Nonlethal weapon injury modeling is crucial for military applications, especially for area-distributed flash-bangs.
• Operational settings present challenges due to random detonation positioning and uncertainties in auditory system responses.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a methodology for quantifying uncertainty in injury risk estimation from multiple, area-distributed flash-bang impulses.
• To analyze the effects of impulse number, spatial distribution, and parameter uncertainties on estimated injury risk.

Main Methods:

• Monte Carlo simulations were used with the Auditory 4.5 model to estimate permanent threshold shift risk.
• Limiting assumptions for dose accumulation rules and varied impulse-noise intensity were applied.
• Risk bounds were established considering acoustic reflex effects and dose trading rules.

Main Results:

• Peak injury risk is highly sensitive to submunition patterns, especially in the most hazardous zones.
• Increased submunitions, impulse intensity, or intensity uncertainty elevate risk; wider distribution reduces peak risk.
• Device output variation and dose accumulation uncertainty are critical factors, particularly with numerous submunitions.

Conclusions:

• The methodology allows exploration of device parameters and dose accumulation rules for multi-impulse flash-bang risk assessment.
• Findings can inform flash-bang design, operational training, and risk mapping for various deployment concepts.
• Future work should extend to other injury types and human effectiveness parameters.