Understanding of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and concussion which could occur in vehicular accidents, contact sports, or other physical traumas have attracted many researcher's attention.&nbsp; Due to the hidden risks in such events, as when the head is subjected to high linear or angular acceleration, it is very important to understand the cause and effect of the relative motion between the brain and skull and normal and shear stresses in the meningeal region.Extensive research based on experimental, analytical, and numerical methods has sought to quantify the response of the human head to blunt impact in an attempt to explain the likely injury process [1]. There are many high-fidelity finite element models and research studies of the head models with different impacts and boundary condition and intial conditions, but very limited analytical models to date for parametric studies. Analytical models of head impacts play an important role in predicting the transmitted force, impact duration, and brain and skull displacement. To define a reliable mathematical model which can illustrate the mechanisms of motion and deformation of the brain within the skull requires knowledge of boundary conditions at the brain–skull interface, material properties, and experimental data for validation.&nbsp;In this paper, a mathematical model of the brain and meningeal layers, as two separate viscoelastic materials that are modeled using a Kelvin–Voigt model, have been investigated and the motion of the brain relative to the skull during blunt head impacts have been analyzed. Specifically, the model consists of three concentric spherical mediums including a spherical shell (skull), a thin spherical layer (meningeal layer), and a spherical mass (brain).&nbsp; The interface between these spherical mediums consists of springs and dashpots representing stiffness and viscoelasticity of the skull, meningeal layer, and the brain. This model consisting of the head, meningeal layer, and the brain, having an initial velocity, was subjected to an impulse load against the initial direction of motion. The equations of motion for this system were obtained, solved, and validated by performing a lumped mechanical model and solved using the finite element method. Multiple parametric studies were performed to determine the cutoff velocity for which there is a contact between the skull and the brain.[1] Baghaei, S.M., Sadegh, A.M. and Rajaai, S.M. (2011) ‘An analytical model for investigating the role of meningeal interfaces in the brain motion relative to the skull in low-velocity head impacts’, Int. J. Biomedical Engineering and Technology, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp.61–76.

Analytical Impact Analysis of the Brain Motion in Low-Velocity Head Impacts Using Concentric Viscoelastic Bodies

Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/IMECE/IMECE2021/volume/85543

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