Now showing 1 - 10 of 11
  • Publication
    Temperature effects on brain tissue in compression
    Extensive research has been carried out for at least 50 years to understand the mechanical properties of brain tissue in order to understand the mechanisms of traumatic brain injury (TBI). The observed large variability in experimental results may be due to the inhomogeneous nature of brain tissue and to the broad range of test conditions. However, test temperature is also considered as one of the factors influencing the properties of brain tissue. In this research, the mechanical properties of porcine brain have been investigated at 22 °C (room temperature), and at 37 °C (body temperature) while maintaining a constant preservation temperature of approximately 4–5 °C. Unconfined compression tests were performed at dynamic strain rates of 30 and 50 s−1 using a custom made test apparatus. There was no significant difference (p=0.8559–0.9290) between the average engineering stresses of the brain tissue at the two different temperature conditions. The results of this study should help to understand the behavior of brain tissue at different temperature conditions, particularly in unconfined compression tests.
      566Scopus© Citations 28
  • Publication
    Inhomogeneous deformation of brain tissue during tension tests
    Mechanical characterization of brain tissue has been investigated extensively by various research groups over the past fifty years. These properties are particularly important for modelling Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) by using finite element human head models to simulate brain injuries under different impact conditions. They are also increasingly important for computer assisted neurosurgery. During severe impact conditions, brain tissue experiences compression, tension and shear; however only limited tests have been performed in tension. Typically, cylindrical specimen are prepared and glued to platens to perform tensile tests which produce an inhomogeneous deformation field near the boundaries, thus contributing to higher magnitudes of stresses. In this research, we present the design and calibration of a High Rate Tension Device (HRTD) capable of performing tests up to a maximum strain rate of 90/s. We use experimental and numerical methods to investigate the effects of inhomogeneous deformation of porcine brain tissue during tension at different specimen thicknesses (4.0 – 14.0 mm), by performing tension tests at a strain rate of 30/s. One-term Ogden material parameters ( = 4395.0 Pa, a = - 2.8) were derived by performing an inverse finite element analysis to model all experimental data. A similar procedure was adopted to determine the Young’s modulus ( E = 11200 Pa) of the linear elastic regime. Based on this analysis, brain specimens of aspect ratio (diameter/thickness) S = 10/10 or lower (10/12, 10/13) are considered suitable for minimizing the effects of inhomogeneous deformation during tension tests.
    Scopus© Citations 37  511
  • Publication
    Mechanical characterization of brain tissue in simple shear at dynamic strain rates
    During severe impact conditions, brain tissue experiences a rapid and complex deformation, which can be seen as a mixture of compression, tension and shear. Diffuse axonal injury (DAI) occurs in animals and humans when both the strains and strain rates exceed 10% and 10/s, respectively. Knowing the mechanical properties of brain tissue in shear at these strains and strain rates is thus of particular importance, as they can be used in finite element simulations to predict the occurrence of brain injuries under different impact conditions. However, very few studies in the literature provide this information. In this research, an experimental setup was developed to perform simple shear tests on porcine brain tissue at strain rates ≤120/s. The maximum measured shear stress at strain rates of 30, 60, 90 and 120/s was 1.15±0.25 kPa, 1.34±0.19 kPa, 2.19±0.225 kPa and 2.52±0.27 kPa, (mean±SD), respectively at the maximum amount of shear, K =1. Good agreement of experimental, theoretical (Ogden and Mooney–Rivlin mod)and numerical shear stresses was achieved (p =0.7866–0.9935). Specimen thickness effects (2.0–10.0 mm thick specimens) were also analyzed numerically and we found that there is no significant difference (p =0.9954) in the shear stress magnitudes, indicating a homogeneous deformation of the specimens during simple shear tests. Stress relaxation tests in simple shear were also conducted at different strain magnitudes (10–60% strain) with the average rise time of 14 ms. This allowed us to estimate elastic and viscoelastic parameters (initial shear modulus, μ=4942.0 Pa, and Prony parameters: g1=0.520, g2=0.3057, τ1=0.0264 s, and τ2=0.011 s) that can be used in FE software to analyze the non-linear viscoelastic behavior of brain tissue. This study provides new insight into the behavior in finite shear of brain tissue under dynamic impact conditions, which will assist in developing effective brain injury criteria and adopting efficient countermeasures against traumatic brain injury.
      1061Scopus© Citations 147
  • Publication
    Influence of preservation temperature on the measured mechanical properties of brain tissue
    The large variability in experimentally measured mechanical properties of brain tissue is due to many factors including heterogeneity, anisotropy, age dependence and post-mortem time. Moreover, differences in test protocols also influence these measured properties. This paper shows that the temperature at which porcine brain tissue is stored or preserved prior to testing has a significant effect on the mechanical properties of brain tissue, even when tests are conducted at the same temperatures. Three groups of brain tissue were stored separately for at least 1 h at three different preservation temperatures, i.e., ice cold, room temperature (22 °C) and body temperature (37 °C), prior to them all being tested at room temperature (∼22 °C). Significant differences in the corresponding initial elastic shear modulus μ (Pa) (at various amounts of shear, 0≤K≤1.0) were observed. The initial elastic moduli were 1043±271 Pa, 714±210 Pa and 497±156 Pa (mean±SD) at preservation temperatures of ice cold, 22 °C and 37 °C, respectively. Based on this investigation, it is strongly recommended that brain tissue samples must be preserved at an ice-cold temperature prior to testing in order to minimize the difference between the measured in vitro test results and the in vivo properties. A by-product of the study is that simple shear tests allow for large, almost perfectly homogeneous deformation of brain matter.
    Scopus© Citations 33  713
  • Publication
    Experimental Characterisation of Neural Tissue at Collision Speeds
    (International Research Council on the Biomechanics of Injury, 2012) ; ;
    Mechanical characterization of brain tissue at high loading velocities is particularly important for modelling Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). During severe impact conditions, brain tissue experiences a mixture of compression, tension and shear. Diffuse axonal injury (DAI) occurs in animals and humans when both the strains and strain rates exceed 10% and 10/s, respectively. Knowing the mechanical properties of brain tissue at these strains and strain rates is of particular importance, as they can be used in finite element simulations to predict the occurrence of brain injuries under different impact conditions. In this research, we describe the design and operation of a High Rate Tension Device (HRTD) that has been used for tensile tests on freshly harvested specimens of porcine neural tissue at speeds corresponding to a maximum strain rate of 90/s. We investigate the effects of inhomogeneous deformation of the tissue during tension by quasi‐static tests (strain rate 0.01/s) and dynamic tests (strain rate 90/s) using different thickness specimens (4.0, 7.0, 10.0 and 13.0 mm) of the same diameter (15.0 mm). Based on a combined experimental and computational analysis, brain specimens of aspect ratio (diameter/thickness) S = 10/10 or lower (10/12, 10/13) are considered suitable for minimizing the effects of inhomogeneous deformation during tension tests. The Ogden material parameters were derived from the experimental data both at quasi‐static conditions (µ = 440 Pa and α = ‐4.8 at 0.01/s strain rate) and dynamic conditions (µ = 4238 Pa and α = 2.8 at 90/s strain rate) by performing an inverse finite element analysis to model all experimental data. These material parameters will prove useful for the nonlinear hyperelastic analysis of brain tissue.
      208
  • Publication
    Determination of friction coefficient in unconfined compression of brain tissue
    Unconfined compression tests are more convenient to perform on cylindrical samples of brain tissue than tensile tests in order to estimate mechanical properties of the brain tissue because they allow homogeneous deformations. The reliability of these tests depends significantly on the amount of friction generated at the specimen/platen interface. Thus, there is a crucial need to find an approximate value of the friction coefficient in order to predict a possible overestimation of stresses during unconfined compression tests. In this study, a combined experimental–computational approach was adopted to estimate the dynamic friction coefficient μ of porcine brain matter against metal platens in compressive tests. Cylindrical samples of porcine brain tissue were tested up to 30% strain at variable strain rates, both under bonded and lubricated conditions in the same controlled environment. It was established that μ was equal to 0.09±0.03, 0.18±0.04, 0.18±0.04 and 0.20±0.02 at strain rates of 1, 30, 60 and 90/s, respectively. Additional tests were also performed to analyze brain tissue under lubricated and bonded conditions, with and without initial contact of the top platen with the brain tissue, with different specimen aspect ratios and with different lubricants (Phosphate Buffer Saline (PBS), Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and Silicone). The test conditions (lubricant used, biological tissue, loading velocity) adopted in this study were similar to the studies conducted by other research groups. This study will help to understand the amount of friction generated during unconfined compression of brain tissue for strain rates of up to 90/s.
      369Scopus© Citations 26
  • Publication
    Extreme softness of brain matter in simple shear
    We show that porcine brain matter can be modelled accurately as a very soft rubber-like material using the Mooney–Rivlin strain energy function, up to strains as high as 60%. This result followed from simple shear experiments performed on small rectangular fresh samples (2.5 cm3 and 1.1 cm3) at quasi-static strain rates. They revealed a linear shear stress–shear strain relationship (R2>0.97), characteristic of Mooney–Rivlin materials at large strains. We found that porcine brain matter is about 30 times less resistant to shear forces than a silicone gel. We also verified experimentally that brain matter exhibits the positive Poynting effect of non-linear elasticity, and numerically that the stress and strain fields remain mostly homogeneous throughout the thickness of the samples in simple shear.
    Scopus© Citations 64  591
  • Publication
    Mechanical characterization of brain tissue in compression at dynamic strain rates
    Traumatic brain injury (TBI) occurs when local mechanical load exceeds certain tolerance levels for brain tissue. Extensive research has been done previously for brain matter experiencing compression at quasistatic loading; however, limited data is available to model TBI under dynamic impact conditions. In this research, an experimental setup was developed to perform unconfined compression tests and stress relaxation tests at strain rates ≤90/s. The brain tissue showed a stiffer response with increasing strain rates, showing that hyperelastic models are not adequate. Specifically, the compressive nominal stress at 30% strain was 8.83 ± 1.94, 12.8 ± 3.10 and 16.0 ± 1.41 kPa (mean ± SD) at strain rates of 30, 60 and 90/s, respectively. Relaxation tests were also conducted at 10%–50% strain with the average rise time of 10 ms, which can be used to derive time dependent parameters. Numerical simulations were performed using one-term Ogden model with initial shear modulus μo=6.06±1.44, 9.44 ± 2.427 and 12.64 ± 1.227 kPa (mean ± SD) at strain rates of 30, 60 and 90/s, respectively. A separate set of bonded and lubricated tests were also performed under the same test conditions to estimate the friction coefficient μ, by adopting combined experimental–computational approach. The values of μ were 0.1 ± 0.03 and 0.15 ± 0.07 (mean ± SD) at 30 and 90/s strain rates, respectively, indicating that pure slip conditions cannot be achieved in unconfined compression tests even under fully lubricated test conditions. The material parameters obtained in this study will help to develop biofidelic human brain finite element models, which can subsequently be used to predict brain injuries under impact conditions.
      622Scopus© Citations 195
  • Publication
    A high rate tension device for characterizing brain tissue
    (Sage Publications, 2012-03-08) ; ;
    The mechanical characterization of brain tissue at high loading velocities is vital for understanding and modeling traumatic brain injury. The most severe form of traumatic brain injury is diffuse axonal injury, which involves damage to individual nerve cells (neurons). Diffuse axonal injury in animals and humans occurs at strains >10% and strain rates >10 s−1. The mechanical properties of brain tissues at these strains and strain rates are of particular significance, as they can be used in finite element human head models to accurately predict brain injuries under different impact conditions. Existing conventional tensile testing machines can only achieve maximum loading velocities of 500 mm/min, whereas the Kolsky bar apparatus is more suitable for strain rates >100 s−1. In this study, a custom-designed high rate tension device is developed and calibrated to estimate the mechanical properties of brain tissue in tension at strain rates ≤ 90 s−1, while maintaining a uniform velocity. The range of strain can o be extended to 100% depending on the thickness of a sample. The same apparatus can be used to characterize the dynamic behavior of skin and other soft biological tissues by using appropriately sized load cells with a capacity of 10 N and above.
    Scopus© Citations 9  353
  • Publication
    Mechanical characterization of brain tissue in tension at dynamic strain rates
    Mechanical characterization of brain tissue at high loading velocities is crucial for modeling Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). During severe impact conditions, brain tissue experiences compression, tension and shear. Limited experimental data is available for brain
      618Scopus© Citations 167