Appleby-Thomas, Gareth J.Hazell, P. J.Wilgeroth, J. M.Shepherd, C. J.Wood, D. C.Roberts, A.2011-06-132011-06-132011-12-310021-8979http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3573632http://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/5488Plate-impact experiments have been employed to investigate the dynamic response of three readily available tissue simulants for ballistic purposes: gelatin, ballistic soap (both subdermal tissue simulants), and lard (adipose layers). All three materials exhibited linear Hugoniot equations-of-state in the US-uP plane. While gelatin behaved hydrodynamically under shock, soap and lard appeared to strengthen under increased loading. Interestingly, the simulants under test appeared to strengthen in a material-independent manner on shock arrival (tentatively attributed to a rearrangement of the amorphous molecular chains under loading). However, material-specific behavior was apparent behind the shock. This behavior appeared to correlate with microstructural complexity, suggesting a steric hindrance effect.en-UKshockhugoniotbiological simulantsmodelswound ballisticsArticle