Quantifying air gap depth between the female anterior torso and soft body armor using handheld 3D scanning

This study investigated the air gaps, or ease, between the anterior female torso and two types of soft body armor, planar and nonplanar, using a novel 3D torso scanning method. To account for differences in breast morphology, participants who were professionally fitted into B-, D-, and F-cup bras were recruited for the study. After an initial scan was taken in the bra, the subjects were scanned wearing each type of armor without any other base layers. The bra scan was overlaid with the armor scans and the difference between the two at six landmarks (left nipple, right nipple, midpoint between the nipples, xiphoid process, and the left and right cup-strap intersections on the bra) quantified the air gap depth or compression at each point. Although air gap measurement did not significantly differ by bra size, the nonplanar armor produced significantly larger gaps than the planar armor, suggesting that the contoured, nonplanar design for females better accommodates breast morphology. These findings quantify the air gap depth between the female and her armor and provide empirical data to inform body armor testing protocols on the female anterior torso.