A Finite Element Study of the Dynamic Response of Brain Based on Two Parasagittal Slice Models

Abstract

The objective of this study is to investigate the influence of gyri and sulci on the response of human head under transient loading. To this end, two detailed parasagittal slice models with and without gyri and sulci have been developed. The models comprised not only cerebrum and skull but also cerebellum, brain stem, CSF, and corpus callosum. In addition, white and gray matters were separated. The material properties were adopted from the literature and assigned to different parts of the models. Nahum's and Trosseille's experiments reported in relevant literature were simulated and the simulation results were compared with the test data. The results show that there is no evident difference in terms of intracranial pressure between the models with and without gyri and sulci under simulated conditions. The equivalent stress below gyri and sulci in the model with gyri and sulci is slightly higher than that in the counterpart model without gyri and sulci. The maximum principle strain in brain tissue is lower in the model with gyri and sulci. The stress and strain distributions are changed due to the existence of gyri and sulci. These findings highlight the necessity to include gyri and sulci in the finite element head modeling.

A mesoscale finite element modeling approach for understanding brain morphology and material heterogeneity effects in chronic traumatic encephalopathy

“…These stress concentrations were not captured in previous macroscale simulations Song et al 2015;Johnson et al 2016). But, mesoscale brain models of brain tissue powered by elastic modulus softening, showed the strain energy localization under large shear strains perpendicular to the sulci (Noël & Kuhl 2019).…”

“…Computational head models generally lack sulci in their brain geometries, which has been shown experimentally to produce heterogeneous von Mises strain fields with greater magnitudes close to sulci (Lauret et al 2009). Macroscale head models that include sulci also have difficulty capturing the localization of such stress and strain concentrations Song et al 2015). More recently, researchers have used mesoscale brain tissue FE models with nonlocal mechanical damage to reproduce the localization of tau agglomarates under the sulcus base during shear shearing of the brain tissue (Noël & Kuhl 2019).…”

Quantifying the impacts of human mobility restriction on the spread of coronavirus disease 2019: an empirical analysis from 344 cities of China

“…[30] However, a large number of movements actually occurred before Wuhan lockdown, and such populations were likely infected or even asymptomatic patients that could lead to outbreak in cities outside Wuhan. [3] Several studies investigated the effects of other measures, [3,11,[13][14][15][33][34][35] among which simulations were extensively used to quantify the effects of physical distancing, early case detection or isolation, or combination of multiple measures. [33][34][35] These studies provided important insights about the impacts of mobility restriction measures, but had limitations given the use of modeling, whereby assumptions are often employed.…”

Quantifying the impacts of human mobility restriction on the spread of COVID-19: an empirical analysis from 344 cities of China

“…33 However, a large number of movements actually occurred before Wuhan lockdown, and such populations were likely infected or even symptomatic that drove the number of cases identified in cities outside Wuhan. 3 Several studies investigated the effects of other measures, 3,11,[14][15][16][36][37][38] among which simulations were extensively used to quantify the effects of physical distancing, early case detection or isolation, or combination of multiple measures. [36][37][38] These studies provided important insights about the impacts of mobility restriction measures, but had limitation given the use of modelling, whereby assumptions are often employed.…”