Towards Determining Mechanical Properties of Brain-Skull Interface Under Tension and Compression

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Arzemanzadeh, Sajjad, Zwick, Benjamin, Miller, Karol, Rosenow, Tim, Hodgetts, Stuart I., Wittek, Adam
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Arzemanzadeh, Sajjad
Zwick, Benjamin
Miller, Karol
Rosenow, Tim
Hodgetts, Stuart I.
Wittek, Adam
author_facet Arzemanzadeh, Sajjad
Zwick, Benjamin
Miller, Karol
Rosenow, Tim
Hodgetts, Stuart I.
Wittek, Adam
contents 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.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2409_05365
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Towards Determining Mechanical Properties of Brain-Skull Interface Under Tension and Compression
Arzemanzadeh, Sajjad
Zwick, Benjamin
Miller, Karol
Rosenow, Tim
Hodgetts, Stuart I.
Wittek, Adam
Computational Engineering, Finance, and Science
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.
title Towards Determining Mechanical Properties of Brain-Skull Interface Under Tension and Compression
topic Computational Engineering, Finance, and Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.05365