Towards Determining Mechanical Properties of Brain-Skull Interface Under Tension and Compression
Computational biomechanics models of the brain have become an important tool for investigating the brain responses to mechanical loads. The geometry, loading conditions, and constitutive properties of such brain models are well-studied and generally accepted. However, there is a lack of experimental...
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Main Authors | , , , , , |
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Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
09.09.2024
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Computational biomechanics models of the brain have become an important tool
for investigating the brain responses to mechanical loads. The geometry,
loading conditions, and constitutive properties of such brain models are
well-studied and generally accepted. However, there is a lack of experimental
evidence to support models of the layers of tissues (brain-skull interface)
connecting the brain with the skull which determine boundary conditions for the
brain. We present a new protocol for determining the biomechanical properties
of the brain-skull interface and present the preliminary results (for a small
number of tissue samples extracted from sheep cadaver heads). The method
consists of biomechanical experiments using brain tissue and brain-skull
complex (consisting of the brain tissue, brain-skull interface, and skull bone)
and comprehensive computer simulation of the experiments using the finite
element (FE) method. Application of the FE simulations allowed us to abandon
the traditionally used approaches that rely on analytical formulations that
assume cuboidal (or cylindrical) sample geometry when determining the
parameters that describe the biomechanical behaviour of the brain tissue and
brain-skull interface. In the simulations, we used accurate 3D geometry of the
samples obtained from magnetic resonance images (MRIs). Our results indicate
that the behaviour of the brain-skull interface under compressive loading
appreciably differs from that under tension. Rupture of the interface was
clearly visible for tensile load while no obvious indication of mechanical
failure was observed under compression. These results suggest that assuming a
rigid connection or frictionless sliding contact between the brain tissue and
skull bone, the approaches often used in computational biomechanics models of
the brain, may not accurately represent the mechanical behaviour of the
brain-skull interface. |
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DOI: | 10.48550/arxiv.2409.05365 |