Comparison of the lethality of different kinetic energy non-lethal projectiles using a new french assessment approach for head impacts

To assess the lethality of non-lethal projectiles on the head, researchers at the DGA (Direction Générale de l'Armement, French Ministry of Defense) launched a research project to determine tolerance limits of the human head. Their results define three lesional thresholds (unconsciousness, meningeal damages and bone damages) depending on the intracranial pressure. Through numerical simulations, three corresponding critical impact forces were determined for a reference projectile. Based on the principle that the same rigid-wall maximal impact forces will produce the same damage on the head, these limits can be determined for any other projectile based only on the rigid wall tests. The purpose of this article is to apply this approach to compare the lethality of different 40 mm non-lethal sponge projectiles. Shooting distances, relative to the different damage thresholds, are given, for each projectile.