Now showing 1 - 10 of 22
  • Publication
    Non-invasive evaluation of skin tension lines with elastic waves
    Background: Since their discovery by Karl Langer in the 19th Century, Skin Tension Lines (STLs) have been used by surgeons to decide the location and orientation of an incision. Although these lines are patient-specific, most surgeons rely on generic maps to determine their orientation. Beyond the imprecise pinch test, there still exists no accepted method for determining the STLs in vivo. Methods: (i) The speed of an elastic motion travelling radially on the skin of canine cadavers was measured with a commercial device called the Reviscometer R . (ii) Similar to the original experiments conducted by Karl Langer, circular excisions were made on the skin and the subsequent geometric changes to the resulting wounds and excised samples were used to determine the orientation of STLs. Results A marked anisotropy in the speed in the elastic wave travelling radially was observed. The orientation of the fastest wave was found to correlate with the orientation of the elongated wound (P < 0.001, R2 = 74%). Similarly, the orientation of fastest wave was the same for both in vivo and excised isolated samples, indicating that the STLs have a structural basis. Resulting wounds expanded by an average area of 9% (+16% along STL and −10% across) while excised skin shrunk by an average of 33% (23% along STL and 10% across). Conclusion: Elastic surface wave propagation has been validated experimentally as a robust method for determining the orientation of STLs nondestructively and non-invasively. This study has implications for the identification of STLs and for the prediction of skin tension levels, both important factors in reconstructive surgeries for both medicine and veterinary medicine.
      739Scopus© Citations 27
  • Publication
    Slight compressibility and sensitivity to changes in Poisson's ratio
    (Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons), 2011-12-12) ; ; ;
    Finite element simulations of rubbers and biological soft tissue usually assume that the material being deformed is slightly compressible. It is shown here that, in shearing deformations, the corresponding normal stress distribution can exhibit extreme sensitivity to changes in Poisson's ratio. These changes can even lead to a reversal of the usual Poynting effect. Therefore, the usual practice of arbitrarily choosing a value of Poisson's ratio when numerically modelling rubbers and soft tissue will, almost certainly, lead to a significant difference between the simulated and actual normal stresses in a sheared block because of the difference between the assumed and actual value of Poisson's ratio. The worrying conclusion is that simulations based on arbitrarily specifying Poisson's ratio close to 1∕2 cannot accurately predict the normal stress distribution even for the simplest of shearing deformations. It is shown analytically that this sensitivity is caused by the small volume changes, which inevitably acy all deformations of rubber-like materials. To minimise these effects, great care should be exercised to accurately determine Poisson's ratio before simulations begin.
      374Scopus© Citations 29
  • Publication
    Towards a predictive assessment of stab-penetration forces
    Collaborative research between the disciplines of forensic pathology and biomechanics was undertaken to investigate the hyperelastic properties of human skin, to determine the force required for sharp instrument penetration of skin, and to develop a finite element model, which reflects the mechanisms of sharp instrument penetration. These studies have led to the development of a 'stab metric', based on simulations, to describe the force magnitudes in stabbing incidents. Such a metric should, in time, replace the crudely quantitative descriptors of stabbing forces currently used by forensic pathologists.
      539Scopus© Citations 12
  • 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.
      404Scopus© Citations 29
  • 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.
      595Scopus© Citations 30
  • Publication
    Deficiencies in numerical models of anisotropic nonlinearly elastic materials
    Incompressible nonlinearly hyperelastic materials are rarely simulated in finite element numerical experiments as being perfectly incompressible because of the numerical difficulties associated with globally satisfying this constraint. Most commercial finite element packages therefore assume that the material is slightly compressible. It is then further assumed that the corresponding strain-energy function can be decomposed additively into volumetric and deviatoric parts. We show that this decomposition is not physically realistic, especially for anisotropic materials, which are of particular interest for simulating the mechanical response of biological soft tissue. The most striking illustration of the shortcoming is that with this decomposition, an anisotropic cube under hydrostatic tension deforms into another cube instead of a hexahedron with non-parallel faces. Furthermore, commercial numerical codes require the specification of a 'compressibility parameter' (or 'penalty factor'), which arises naturally from the flawed additive decomposition of the strain-energy function. This parameter is often linked to a 'bulk modulus', although this notion makes no sense for anisotropic solids; we show that it is essentially an arbitrary parameter and that infinitesimal changes to it result in significant changes in the predicted stress response. This is illustrated with numerical simulations for biaxial tension experiments of arteries, where the magnitude of the stress response is found to change by several orders of magnitude when infinitesimal changes in 'Poisson’s ratio' close to the perfect incompressibility limit of 1/2 are made.
      657Scopus© Citations 36
  • 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.
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  • 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.
      657Scopus© Citations 72
  • Publication
    Third- and fourth-order constants of incompressible soft solids and the acousto-elastic effect
    (Acoustical Society of America, 2010) ; ;
    Acousto-elasticity is concerned with the propagation of small-amplitude waves in deformed solids. Results previously established for the incremental elastodynamics of exact non-linear elasticity are useful for the determination of third- and fourth-order elastic constants, especially in the case of incompressible isotropic soft solids, where the expressions are particularly simple. Specifically, it is simply a matter of expanding the expression for ρv2, where ρ is the mass density and v the wave speed, in terms of the elongation e of a block subject to a uniaxial tension. The analysis shows that in the resulting expression: ρv2=a+be+ce2, say, a depends linearly on μ; b on μ and A; and c on μ, A, and D, the respective second-, third, and fourth-order constants of incompressible elasticity, for bulk shear waves and for surface waves.
      526Scopus© Citations 56
  • 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.
      1117Scopus© Citations 154