A simplified human head finite element model for brain injury assessment of blunt impacts

Blunt impacts contribute more than 95% of brain trauma injuries in Malaysia. Modelling and simulation of these impacts are essential in understanding the mechanics of the injuries to develop a protective equipment that might prevent brain trauma. Various finite element models of human head have been...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: M.H.A. Hassan, Z. Taha, I. Hasanuddin, A.P.P.A. Majeed, H. Mustafa, N. A. Othman
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universiti Malaysia Pahang Publishing 2020-06-01
Series:Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journal.ump.edu.my/jmes/article/view/1029
Description
Summary:Blunt impacts contribute more than 95% of brain trauma injuries in Malaysia. Modelling and simulation of these impacts are essential in understanding the mechanics of the injuries to develop a protective equipment that might prevent brain trauma. Various finite element models of human head have been developed, ranging from two-dimensional models to very complex three-dimensional models. The aim of this study is to develop a simplified three-dimensional human head model with low computational cost, yet capable of producing reliable brain responses. The influence of different head-neck boundary conditions on the brain responses were also examined. Our model was validated against an experimental work on human cadaver. The model with free head-neck boundary condition was found to be in good agreement with experimental results. The head-neck joint was found to have a significant influence on the brain responses upon impact. Further investigations on the head-neck joint modelling are needed. Our simplified model was successfully validated against experimental data on human cadaver and could be used in simulating blunt impact scenarios.
ISSN:2289-4659
2231-8380