Computational and laboratory investigations of a model of blood droplet flight for forensic applications

Abstract

We present a three-dimensional, forward model of blood droplets in ight. The proposed model is based on a set of ordinary di erential equations (ODEs) incorporating viscous drag and gravitational forces. We validate the model against laboratory experiments in which a mock crime scene is constructed. The experiments consist of a ballistics gel containing transfer blood or porcine blood shot by a riot ball from a paintball gun constituting a simulated bloodletting event. The experiments are captured using highspeed stereo camera pair from which three-dimensional trajectories can be extracted using tracking software. The long-term goal is to develop an accurate framework for forensic Bloodstain Pattern Analysis (BPA).