The effects of crossbow impacts onto a common automotive vehicle side window—a preliminary study

In recent times, the number of criminal incidents involving crossbows in the UK has increased with many incidents resulting in either injuries or fatalities. Whilst the effects of crossbow bolts on the body are well understood, there is a limited understanding on how these projectiles interact with the wider environment. One area of particular interest is the interaction between common vehicle side windows and bolts. In this study, the penetrability of two distinct bolts using an off-the-shelve crossbow against a common automotive side window was explored, where velocity loss up to 25 m/s post impact was recorded. All windows failed through radial glass fracture at a rate up to 1600 m/s, whilst bolt damage varied from tip holder decoupling, shaft damage, and traumatic fletching removal. No distinct relationship between bolt type, velocity, and window damage was identified

The study of a human head simulant's dynamic response to a blast wave

The prevalence of body armour and helmets in military forces combined with the availability of combat medical support and timely evacuation of injured soldiers has increased the survivability rates of those who have been exposed to blast. Despite this, the incidents of traumatic brain injury (TBI), as a result of primary blast, have been described as the 'ignature injury' of modern warfare. The physical interaction between a blast wave and a human head is not well understood and there is some conjecture as to whether helmets are attenuating or amplifying the blast effects on the human head. The aim of this study was to improve the understanding of the interaction of primary blasts on the human head with different attachments such as a helmet and face shield

Scaled simulation of the blast effects on structures using LEGO blocks: A pilot study

Blast effects on structures is an important topic in this modern age for many practising engineers, including structural engineers designing buildings for safety or weapons engineers attempting to destroy enemy infrastructure. Due to the large costs, time demands, space requirements and expertise required, full scale testing is rarely a feasible approach. As such it is important to be able to effectively model the blast effects on structures. Currently, computer modelling techniques are extensively used, however the results of these models are often difficult to verify, whilst requiring experienced expert users to ensure accurate data

Getting rid of dichotomous sex estimations: why logistic regression should be preferred over discriminant function analysis

Bioarchaeolog