Labs
Ballistics lab
The Ballistic Impact Research Laboratory is located within the Biomedical Engineering building and has 50 linear feet for testing. This laboratory is used to conduct research in kinetic energy (less lethal) munitions, behind body armor effects, ballistic helmet testing and is equipped to test up to .50 caliber rounds. A single, seven-foot lane culminates with a camera bay adjacent to a target field containing both LED and tungsten lights for high- speed videography. The range is one of a few facilities where both live fire ammunitions and biological specimens can be tested.
Firing can occur through one of three mechanisms: a universal receiver, air gun/air cannon or firearm. A computer control system operates the universal receiver, which can fire calibers from 5.56 mm through .45 as well as 12-gauge ammunitions. The pneumatic system can fire projectiles from ,22 caliber FSPs to 37 mm sub-munitions. The lab armory has 37- and 40-mm launchers, and a 12-gauge Remington 870 are available as well.
The range is equipped to test according to NIJ 0101.06 with an ESPEC ESL-2CA environmental chamber for completion of the backface signature test and full handloading capabilities. Velocities are measured with an Oehler 35P chronograph with three model 57 screens measuring 40.5 cm x 66 cm internally. A rubber composite bullet trap (Caswell- Armor) is located at the remote end of the range. The range is outfitted with isolated air handling to filter lead and other spent powder combustion gases from the lab.
In the media:
- 60 Minutes video: "The power behind AR-15 style rifles"
- CNN video: "See how AR-15 style guns create explosions inside the body"
- WDIV video: "Groundbreaking ballistics research is being done at Wayne State University"
Sport safety
The Sports Injury Biomechanics Laboratory is located within the Biomedical Engineering building and houses multiple pieces of testing equipment for the evaluation of sports-related personal protective equipment and impacts during athletic activities. Testing devices include a NOCSAE (National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment) twin-wire drop stand, air cannon launcher, impact monorail and two linear impactors (CADEX and Biokinetics). The drop stand allows for a maximum drop height of up to 4.5 meters with impact velocities approaching 32 kph while the air cannon can fire a wide variety of projectiles. Baseball, softball, and hockey pucks can be fired at velocities up to 160 kph. Finally, the linear impactors are used in the evaluation of protective equipment for amateur boxing in the United States. Straight punches and jabs ranging from 135 Nm to over 405 Nm can be simulated. The linear impactors are also used to test American football helmets and to simulate helmet to helmet and helmet to ground collisions.
In the media:
ATD calibration lab
The ATD Calibration Research Laboratory is located within the Biomedical Engineering building and houses equipment to calibrate the head, neck, chest, and knees of the Hybrid III family of ATDs. The head testing fixture is comprised of a magnetic release drop tower that drops onto a precision machined surface. The testing fixture, which is made of a steel tube pendulum that crushes an aluminum hexcell, can evaluate both flexion and tension. The chest testing fixture includes a wire-suspended pendulum and scissor-lift table capable of raising or lowering the Hybrid III ATD into testing position. Much like the chest testing fixture, the knee testing fixture is comprised of a wire-suspended pendulum that impacts a rigidly mounted Hybrid III knee which is elevated off the ground. All testing is conducted within the NHTSA corridors.
Automotive Crashworthiness and Safety Lab
The Injury Biomechanics Laboratory has two large-scale crash sleds (WHAM IV and HYGE). The Wayne Horizontal Acceleration Mechanism (WHAM) IV, on a 40 m long track, is a versatile experimental tool for studying all types of impact environments. The sled deck measures 6 m X 3 m to accommodate up to 8,000 kgs of payload to a maximum speed of 129 kph. The WHAM IV sled can be used to study rigid concrete barrier crashes of an entire vehicle, as a propulsion mechanism to study pole or other narrow object impact, or to conduct sled experiments with a deceleration pulse controlled by a hydraulic decelerating mechanism to simulate various vehicular crash profiles. The sled can also be used to study vertical loading using a sled-on-sled recumbent system.
The 30 cm diameter HYGE sled can accelerate a maximum payload of 800 kgs to a speed of 60 kph. The sled deck measures 2 m X 3 m to accommodate various test requirements. A metering pin is used to govern the acceleration pulse shape and impact duration to simulate a variety of front, side, rear, and oblique impacts. Over forty unique meter pins are currently available, or a custom pin can be designed. The entire setup is controlled via a computer to allow maximum repeatability.
Each sled has the capability to have specially designed “bucks” that can be used to represent various automotive environments. In addition, a side impact testing setup is available for full body lateral impact testing.
Drop tower
The 5.1 meter high drop tower has a test platform that measures 2.2 m x 1.1 m and a maximum impact velocity up to 10 m/s. The drop platform has a 53 cm x 86 cm cutout to allow for a separate, secondary pulse, independent of the primary drop pulse, if necessary. This cutout allows for separate seat and floor pulses. Pulses for the drop tower are modified by the characteristics and amount of aluminum honeycomb material which is used to arrest the motion of the platform. Visco-elastic materials can be used to create a floor pulse and delta V that is up to 40% greater than the platform velocity (~14 m/s). The drop tower is ideal for testing seats, floor and EA materials used in the underbody blast injury mitigation.
Blast Injury Lab
The Blast Injury Laboratory at Wayne State University is well equipped to assess the effects of shock waves on biological tissues along with basic shock wave research. The shock tube consists of a .75 m long driver with a 30 cm diameter. The driven section consists of two 2.4 m metal tubes and a clear 1.2 m Lexan tube that is attached at the end so that high speed video can be recorded to analyze the response of an object exposed to shock. Overpressure is created by placing membranes of various thicknesses between the driver and driven tubes that rupture at a given pressure. One pressure sensor is placed in the driver; another two sensors are placed 2.4 meters apart in the driven section. The tube can be modified with an expansion to subject larger objects to overpressure and it can also be customized to create a true complex wave environment. An array of additional sensors is available to meet the needs of a specific study.
The laboratory can collect data at rates up to 1 MS/s to allow for a thorough analysis of shock wave dynamics and structural response. The laboratory was designed for pathophysiological analysis of small organisms such as rodents. Cognitive assessment can be achieved with a Morris Water Maze test that features full motion analysis capabilities. A horizontal ladder test is also used for assessment of motor damage. Physiological status can be measured by means of pulse oximetry, EEG, among many other parameters based on the desire of the researcher. MRI, biomarker, and histological analysis can also be utilized for further analysis.
Equipment
Uni-axial test machines
A 10,000 N Instron material testing machine is available for uniaxial, static, and dynamic testing from speeds less than 1 mm/s up to 1 m/s. This device is set up for fatigue, 3-point bending, tensile and shear tests as well as compressive cyclic loading and load to failure. A second 10,000 N Instron material testing machine is available and capable of high-speed loading up to a rate of 21 m/s. These machines have been used in the past to test full-body cadavers as well as component body parts in addition to non-biological test samples from the automotive and aerospace industries.
Linear impactors
There are two pneumatic linear impactors available from Cadex and Biokinetics with a 14 kg and 12 kg impacting ram, respectively. The velocity range can be adjusted from 2-12 m/s. Mass can also be added to the impacting ram to create the desired loading conditions. The impacting surface can be adjusted to simulate different interface scenarios. A total of 15 cm of “free flight” is available after a 30 cm acceleration stroke. A horizontal lift table is available to precisely align the impact face with the desired target. Both full body and component level testing can be done with either linear impactor.
Pendulums
Various free-flying parabolic pendulum systems are available in the Injury Biomechanics Laboratory. These systems can be adapted by adjusting the mass and the drop height to create varying energies upon impact. Drop towers are also available for component level testing.
Air cannons
Multiple air cannon systems are available for shooting projectiles. The size of the barrel can be adjusted down as small as small as a 12-gauge projectile and up to 9.65 cm. These devices are capable of pressures up to 1000 psi and velocities in excess of 200 m/s. A horizontal lift table is available to precisely align the projectile with the desired target. Both full body and component level testing can be conducted with these air cannons.
Data acquisition
Data acquisition equipment includes 96 channels DTS TDAS PRO and 180 channels of DTS Slice PRO with on-board data acquisition system capabilities. TDAS PRO has a maximum sampling rate of 100,000 samples/second and Slice PRO has a maximum sampling rate of 1,000,000 samples/second. They are high-g rated to 100g’s for on board loading conditions. Sensor inputs of 2V, 5V or 10V are compatible with raw voltage, full- bridge, and half-bridge connections. The system produces low signal-to-noise ratios and had hardware anti-aliasing filters. The systems are built to and certified for NHTSA, FAA, ISO 6487, and SAE J211.
In addition to on-board data acquisition, there are also three DEWE43 data acquisition systems and one SIRIUS data acquisition system for off-board data acquisition. These systems provide a total of 32 channels of off-board recording. These systems can accept voltage and full bridge signals natively as well as IEPE, charge, thermocouples, half bridge, quarter bridge, RTD, current, resistance and LVDT signals with the use of DSI adapters. The sampling rate is up to 200,000 samples/second per channel, sigma-delta with 24-bit ADC.
High-speed video
A variety of high-speed cameras are available to record motion above 100,000 frames per second (fps). There is one Phantom V1212 (511,700 fps) and one Phantom Miro LC310 (650,000 fps). There are two NAC GX-8 (312,500 fps), one NAC HX 3 (up to 740,660 fps), two NAC GX-1 (128,000 fps). These cameras all allow HD resolution at frame rates above 2,000 fps. In addition, there are also two high speed HG100K color cameras capable of capturing 100,000 frames per second, four HG2000 cameras capable of capturing 2,000 frames.
VICON motion capture
There are two Vicon motion capture systems available in the lab. A ten (10) camera system, which uses the Vantage V5 cameras with the wide optics package, can track three- dimensional motion of multiple complex systems at up to 2,000 frames/second or 1,000 frames per second at 5 MP resolution. This system can be used for motion capture and analysis in any of the labs and provides a cost-effective means for measuring motion on both components and whole-bodies. The second Vicon system is an is a ten (10) camera Vero V2.2 system with 2.2 MP resolution and a maximum frame rate of 330 frames/second. Additional information on this system can be found on the R2B lab webpage.
ATDs
Currently all the laboratories have access to a variety of ATD devices. Basic headforms are available including a Hybrid III head and neck and a NOCSAE headform. The lab has access to a FOCUS headform, which has all the instrumentation of the Hybrid III with the addition of 7 load cells, from the mandible, eyes, zygomatic bones, and frontal bones. One (1)50th Hybrid III ATD is available along with a 6MO CRABI, 5th female and a 95th male HIII ATD.