The Strain Rates in the Brain, Brainstem, Dura, and Skull under Dynamic Loadings

Abstract

Knowing the precise material properties of intracranial head organs is crucial for studying the biomechanics of head injury. It has been shown that these biological tissues are significantly rate-dependent; hence, their material properties should be determined with respect to the range of deformation rate they experience. In this paper, a validated finite element human head model is used to investigate the biomechanics of the head in impact and blast, leading to traumatic brain injuries (TBI). We simulate the head under various directions and velocities of impacts, as well as helmeted and unhelmeted head under blast shock waves. It is demonstrated that the strain rates for the brain are in the range of 36 to 241 s −1 , approximately 1.9 and 0.86 times the resulting head acceleration under impacts and blast scenarios, respectively. The skull was found to experience a rate in the range of 14 to 182 s −1 , approximately 0.7 and 0.43 times the head acceleration corresponding to impact and blast cases. The results of these incident simulations indicate that the strain rates for brainstem and dura mater are respectively in the range of 15 to 338 and 8 to 149 s −1 . These findings provide a good insight into characterizing the brain tissue, cranial bone, brainstem and dura mater, and also selecting material properties in advance for computational dynamical studies of the human head.

AFM Based Nanomechanical Characterization of Cellulose Nanofibril

“…14–18 Hence, natural fibers have appeared as a potential replacement for the synthetic fibers and natural fibers based composites have already started to dominate in various industries. 19–24…”

“…[14][15][16][17][18] Hence, natural fibers have appeared as a potential replacement for the synthetic fibers and natural fibers based composites have already started to dominate in various industries. [19][20][21][22][23][24] Kenaf, jute, sisal, flax, and hemp are the most commonly used natural fibers that are incorporated in the polymer matrix to tailor the mechanical properties. 19 Though these fibers are extracted from different plants, most of them possess a similar structure.…”

Analysis of Head Impact Biomechanics in Youth Female Soccer Players Following the Get aHEAD Safely in Soccer™ Heading Intervention

“…Future research should also include a larger sample size, different age groups, and male players. In a different direction, researchers could explore the biomechanics of RHI using a finite element model of a human head as is done in impacts and blasts resulting in traumatic brain injuries [ 34 ].…”

Factors Contributing to Increased Blast Overpressure inside Modern Ballistic Helmets

“…To date, research on blast wave propagation inside of the combat helmets is based almost exclusively on data from numerical simulations [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. Advances in medical diagnostic techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) has facilitated the development of high-fidelity, anatomically accurate head models [19][20][21][22].…”

“…Progress in these fields stimulated the development of high-fidelity computational methods that helped identify mechanisms governing blast loading of the brain without a helmet. The finite element method (FEM) based numerical simulations demonstrated that in the early stages of the blast wave interaction with the head, the intracranial pressure is increased (compressive wave) at the coup (impact) side, which is accompanied by the development of the underpressure (tensile wave) on the counter-coup side [8,18,19,23,24]. This mechanism is universal and independent of the direction of the blast wave propagation, which was confirmed not only for the front impact but also for the blast waves directed at the head from the side, back, top, or the bottom [13,15,23].…”