Traumatic Brain Injury Investigation Using FE Modeling of the Rat and Experimental High Amplitude Rotations in the Sagittal Plane

• A combined approach of numerical modeling and animal experiments was used to study themechanisms of traumatic brain injury (TBI). A three‐dimensional finite element model (FEM) of the rat brainwas submitted to experimental sagittal plane rotational acceleration pulses. The experimental setup providedhistological analysis of injured brain tissues for a range of severities. The biomechanical response parameterswere extracted from the FEM in the anatomical regions identified by experiments as prone to injuries. VonMises stresses and first principal strains proved to increase with both the amplitude of acceleration loadings andthe tissue injuries severities. Further comparison between mechanical responses and experimental histologicalscores allowed proposing tissue thresholds for the occurrence of TBI, namely 1.5 kPa and 4% approximately forVon Mises stresses and first principal strains, respectively. Those values can be used for further investigationsof the mechanisms of TBI.

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Maskinteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Mechanical Engineering (hsv//eng)

Keyword

animal experiments

injury mechanisms

finite element modeling

traumatic brain injury

Publication and Content Type

kon (subject category)

ref (subject category)