A Computational Biomechanics Model for the Study of Blast Brain Injury

Injury patterns in recent conflicts involving the United States show a similarity with those observed in previous conflicts. As protective body armor effectiveness progressed and medical care advanced, mortality among current U.S. warfighters has been reduced. As a consequence, more warfighters are surviving what previously would have been fatal injuries making other injury conditions like blast brain injury (BBI) more prominent than before. This has focused national attention on explosive blast neurotruama, a nonpenetrating brain injury which has become recognized as a component of traditionally diagnosed head trauma incurred in combat. The injury mechanisms, or the brain wounding processes, in BBI are not fully understood and a recent surge in experimental efforts has been undertaken to better understand these mechanisms. The development of computational models to work hand in hand in designing experiments and analyzing pre-clinical BBI data is greatly needed. Integrated Services Group (ISG), will, in conjunction with available experimental and clinical data, develop a sophisticated computational model of the rat head suitable for conducting computational and biomechanical analysis of the head subjected to explosive blast. It will provide a better understanding of the effects of direct blast loading of the head to obtain extracranial and intracranial response for a range of relevant loadings. This model is invaluable in studying blast brain injury mechanisms or wounding processes.