Citation

Turner JA, Liu J. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 2010; 127(3): 1790.

Affiliation

Department of Enginering and Mechanics, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA; (jaturner@unl.edu).

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, American Institute of Physics)

DOI

10.1121/1.3383973

PMID

20330224

Abstract

The interaction of blast waves with the human head is complicated by many factors including the geometry, material nonlinearities, and skull microstructure. In particular, the flat bones of the skull are comprised of the outer and inner tables (cortical bone) and the diploe (trabecular bone) on the interior. This microstructure results in both scattering and absorption of incident pressure waves. A clear understanding of these effects is needed if pressure profiles within the brain are to be accurately modeled. The focus of this presentation is on finite element wave simulations that have been developed to account for this complex organization. The models are first used to examine the scattering attenuation and coherency loss resulting from the microstructure as a function of incidence angle and frequency for plane wave incident pressure profiles. These models are then extended to more realistic pressure profiles representative of blast waves. The statistics of the microstructure are shown to play a key role in the peak pressures observed within the skull. It is anticipated that this work will lead to a better understanding of role of skull microstructure on blast-induced traumatic brain injury. [Work supported by ARO.].

Language: en