  The following study is motivated by experimental studies in traumatic brain
injury (TBI). Recent research has demonstrated that low intensity non-impact
blast wave exposure frequently leads to mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI);
however, the mechanisms connecting the blast waves and the mTBI remain unclear.
Collaborators at the Seattle VA Hospital are doing experiments to understand
how blast waves can produce mTBI. In order to gain insight that is hard to
obtain by experimental means, we have developed conservative finite volume
methods for interface-shock wave interaction to simulate these experiments. A
1D model of their experimental setup has been implemented using Euler equations
for compressible fluids. These equations are coupled with a Tammann equation of
state (EOS) that allows us to model compressible gas along with almost
incompressible fluids or elastic solids. A hybrid HLLC-exact
Eulerian-Lagrangian Riemann solver for Tammann EOS with a jump in the
parameters has been developed. The model has shown that if the plastic
interface is very thin, it can be neglected. This result might be very helpful
to model more complicated setups in higher dimensions.
