Skull flexure from blast waves: a mechanism for brain injury with implications for helmet design.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) has become a signature injury of current military conflicts, with debilitating, costly, and long-lasting effects. Although mechanisms by which head impacts cause TBI have been well researched, the mechanisms by which blasts cause TBI are not understood. From numerical hydrodynamic simulations, we have discovered that nonlethal blasts can induce sufficient skull flexure to generate potentially damaging loads in the brain, even without a head impact. The possibility that this mechanism may contribute to TBI has implications for injury diagnosis and armor design.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94551, USA.
William C
WC
Moss
Michael J
MJ
King
Eric G
EG
Blackman
D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002555:Cerebrospinal Fluid / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004548:Elasticity; D004867:Equipment Design; D005107:Explosions; D006260:Head Protective Devices / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D008953:Models, Anatomic; D012886:Skull / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D013718:Tensile Strength