Doctoral Dissertations

Keywords and Phrases

Body armor; Female warfighter; Pressure transmission; Shock energy

Abstract

Body armor is a vital piece of protective equipment for warfighters to defend against threats, necessitating continued development to improve comfort, weight, and protection. However, female warfighters often wear unisex body armor, designed primarily for the male torso. Current research has evaluated the short- and long-term detriments of female warfighters wearing these armors, focusing on comfort and performance. However, these studies do not comprehensively consider how a non-form-fitting armor compromises warfighter safety from battlefield threats. This research examines the geometric effects of female warfighters on armor protection level when defending against shock threats by evaluating the energy distribution on a female torso with varied directionalities, breast volumes, and armor shapes. High-speed imagery, time-pressure measurements, and statistical analysis were employed throughout this research. It was found that female body shapes push unisex armors away from the lower torso to accommodate breasts. This resulted in greater shock infiltration via direct transmission and diffraction, and the reconvergence of fractured shock waves in the air gaps caused when armor is worn on larger breast volumes. Armor plate shape was found to be a significant influence on behind-armor shock exposure among female wearers, with plate shapes that provided less upper-torso coverage reducing energy entrapment. Multicurve designs provided a better armor fit, as evidenced by greater uniformity in air-gap thicknesses, resulting in lower shock exposure levels than with a single-curve design. This research highlights the need for female-specific armor designs that conform to their characteristics to effectively protect against battlefield threats.

Advisor(s)

Johnson, Catherine E.

Committee Member(s)

Douglas, Alexander
Clutter, James
Perry, Kyle A.
Bartlett, Laura

Department(s)

Mining Engineering

Degree Name

Ph. D. in Explosives Engineering

Publisher

Missouri University of Science and Technology

Publication Date

Spring 2026

Journal article titles appearing in thesis/dissertation

Paper I, found on pages 39 to 80, has been published in the proceedings of the 26th Biennial Meeting of Military Aspects of Blast and Shock in Wollongong, Australia, in November 2023 and later published in Shock Waves Journal as of May 2025.

Paper II, found on pages 81 to 108, has been published in Military Medicine as of September 2025 as a special edition following the Military Health Systems Research Symposium in August 2024.

Paper III, found on pages 109 to 144, has been published in Scientific Reports since April 2026.

Paper IV, found on pages 145 to 180, has been submitted for in International Journal of Impact Engineering since April 2026, and is currently under review.

Paper V, found on pages 181 to 211, is under preparation for submission to Engineering Reports for publication as a journal.

Pagination

xviii, 233 pages

Note about bibliography

Includes_bibliographical_references_(pages 218-229)

Rights

© 2026 Melissa Lynn Sutter , All Rights Reserved

Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

File Type

text

Language

English

Thesis Number

T 12609

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