Intracranial pressure–based validation and analysis of traumatic brain injury using a new three-dimensional finite element human head model

Abstract

Traumatic brain injuries are life-threatening injuries that can lead to long-term incapacitation and death. Over the years, numerous finite element human head models have been developed to understand the injury mechanisms of traumatic brain injuries. Many of these models are erroneous and used ellipsoidal or spherical geometries to represent brain. This work is focused on the development of high-quality, comprehensive three-dimensional finite element human head model with accurate representation of cerebral sulci and gyri structures in order to study traumatic brain injury mechanisms. Present geometry, predicated on magnetic resonance imaging data consist of three rudimentary components, that is, skull, cerebrospinal fluid with the ventricular system, and the soft tissues comprising the cerebrum, cerebellum, and brain stem. The brain is modeled as a hyperviscoelastic material. Meshed model with 10 nodes modified tetrahedral type element (C3D10M) is validated against two cadaver-based impact experiments by comparing the intracranial pressures at different locations of the head. Our results indicate a better agreement with cadaver results, specifically for the case of frontal and parietal intracranial pressure values. Existing literature focuses mostly on intracranial pressure validation, while the effects of von Mises stress on brain injury are not analyzed in detail. In this work, a detailed interpretation of neurological damage resulting from impact injury is performed by analyzing von Mises stress and intracranial pressure distribution across numerous segments of the brain. A reasonably good correlation with experimental data signifies the robustness of the model for predicting injury mechanisms based on clinical predictions of injury tolerance criteria.

The importance of modeling the human cerebral vasculature in blunt trauma

“…For instance, Willinger et al [45], Zhao et al [21], and Mao et al [15] observed peak-pressure discrepancies of less than 19% and temporal phase-shift differences of less than 1.3 ms. The peak-pressure discrepancy in the third ventricle (33.7%) was also comparable to the values reported by Zhao et al and Khanuja and Unni [12], who observed a peak-pressure discrepancy equivalent to 32%. We applied the force derived from the measured acceleration on the model forehead, similar to the study by Khanuja and Unni, which resulted in a difference of 41% between the simulated and experimental ICP values in the occipital lobe.…”

“…3c) [15,51]. We did not constrain the neck of the FE model, consistent with previous studies [12,15,21,45]. We performed blunt loading simulations using ABAQUS/Explicit 2018 (Dassault Systèmes Simulia Corp., Johnston, RI) on ( 1 We post-processed the simulation results using EnSight 10.2.5a (Computational Engineering International, Inc., Apex, NC) and determined the intracranial pressure (ICP), the relative displacement (RD) between the brain and skull, the von Mises stress (VMS), and the maximum principal strain (MPS).…”

“…3a) as a pressure force distributed over an area of 1330 mm 2 [38]. Next, to simulate Trosseille's experiment, we derived the impact force from the measured acceleration [12] and applied the force on the forehead of the FE model (Fig. 3b) as a pressure force distributed over an area of 1360 mm 2 .…”

“…For instance, to identify potential injury thresholds for TBI, two separate research groups have independently developed three-dimensional (3-D) finite element (FE) models of the human head and correlated the simulated responses with injuries observed in computed tomography images [5,6]. Moreover, to evaluate the biomechanical response of the brain to impacts and impulses that generate translation and rotation of the head, different research groups have developed 3-D FE models of the human head, which vary greatly in terms of the number of anatomical components, material properties of the brain tissue, brain anatomy, and description of the cerebral vasculature [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. For example, Tse et al included 13 components in their FE model [20], whereas the FE model developed by Cotton et al consisted of 32 components [8].…”

Certified Motorcycle Helmets: Computational Evaluation of the Efficacy of Standard Requirements with Finite Element Models

“…Some of these models were developed with the goal to optimize the helmet design according to specific criteria [23,27,28,[30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38]. These coupled with FE head models make it possible to predict traumatic brain injuries [39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49].…”