A simplified head model was developed using an elastic shell (polycarbonate cylinder) filled with a viscous fluid (mineral oil). The cylinder had a two inch diameter with wall thicknesses of 0.125 and 0.063 inches. This model measured surface pressure and circumferential strain on the front, side, and back surfaces. Internal oil pressure measurements were taken at the front, center, and back of the cylinder. The primary objective of the study was to understand the links between surface pressures and strains to internal fluid loading.
Analysis was performed to understand the timing of the free-field pressure, surface pressure, surface strain, and internal oil pressure waves which had cylinder traversal times of 105, 138, 37, and 33 microseconds, respectively. The surface pressure wave was faster than the free-field shock until reaching the side of the cylinder, but decreased as it expanded around the back of the cylinder causing the surface pressure wave to lag the free-field wave. The internal oil pressure and the surface strain waves initially propagated independently near their respective longitudinal wave speeds, which is much faster than the surface and free-field pressure waves. Due to timing similarities, it is uncertain whether the initial stress wave in the polycarbonate is a longitudinal stress wave or if it is induced by the internal oil pressure wave. It is believed that the internal pressure wave induces the initial surface stress wave. The timing also showed that these waves were initiated by the abrupt shock loading at the front of the cylinder, which
demonstrates that the internal oil pressures are affected by the dynamic surface pressure conditions.
The surface pressures on the cylinder were measured at the front (0°), side (90°), and back (180°). The front location experienced a peak intensity correlating to the reflected shock pressure followed by gradual decay associated with a Friedlander profile. The back pressure profile had similar characteristics, except the peak pressure was lower.
The side pressure profile had a short duration pressure spike followed by a negative pressure phase caused by flow separation. The negative pressure phase ended around 0.42 milliseconds, causing an abrupt jump in surface pressure to a similar intensity as the back location. These surface pressure gradients significantly affected the internal oil pressures.
The front oil pressure rapidly peaked followed by pressure degradation during the first 0.42 milliseconds. On the contrary, the back oil pressure generally experienced a gradual pressure increase, with sharp pressure oscillations intertwined. The center oil pressure experienced the most significant oscillations with peak intensities similar to the degrading front oil pressure and valley intensities similar to the increasing back oil pressure. The internal pressure differences/oscillations are likely attributed to the competing effect caused by the strong surface pressure gradients.
From 0.42 to 0.6 milliseconds, the internal oil pressure experienced a rise in pressure. This is attributed to the jump in surface pressure seen on the side of the cylinder. After 0.42 milliseconds, the lack of any low pressure surfaces minimizes the
occurrence of negative pressurization of the liquid. However, structural oscillations appear to cause significant loading effects after 0.6 milliseconds.
The internal pressure in the thick and thin cylinder exhibited abrupt deviations after 0.60 milliseconds, which was strongly influenced by structural oscillations indicated by circumferential strain. Since the structural oscillations are primarily low frequency, an averaged elliptical strain was calculated. The strain rate is likely an important factor because the internal pressure deviation occurred around 0.6 milliseconds. At this time, the strain slopes (strain rate) significantly deviated.
Although the sudden changes after 0.6 milliseconds are attributed to the circumferential strain and strain rate, the surface pressure and body acceleration also continue to contribute to the internal pressure. This is apparent because the internal pressure oscillates around the decaying trend of the surface pressure. Because of loading complications, in-depth analysis was not carried out for the long duration pressurization.
The injury mechanisms for the initial loading of the brain appear to be dominated by the surface pressure gradients, but the later oil pressure oscillation is caused by structural oscillation after the surface pressures semi-equilibrated.
The peak internal pressures were not determined directly, but integration was used to demonstrate peak pressures at each location. The slope of the impulse demonstrates the higher peak pressures in a clean manner. The front sensor exhibited the highest peak pressure, followed by the middle, and then the back sensor. The front sensor had a shock-like rise in pressure, but the back sensor had a more gradual pressure change.
Overall the average positive pressure was significantly higher for the thin-walled sample, but tension phases were more prominent in the thick-walled sample. This is very interesting because internal pressurization and cavitation are two of the proposed modes for TBIs. Based on these findings the stiffer cylinder is more likely to experience cavitation but the more flexible cylinder is more likely to see higher pressure loading induced by structural oscillation. Further testing needs to be conducted to better understand and confirm these findings.
Testing small-scale, simplified models is an important step towards understanding traumatic brain injury, but experimental testing of wave propagation modes in full-scale, realistic head models is a step that must be taken to fully understand the puzzle.
Historically, testing of large-scale experiments has been performed outside of shock tubes, but this location may not be best suited for replicating explosive driven shock waves. It was hypothesized that the flow discontinuity from 1- to 3-dimensional expansions could cause significant disturbances and flow characteristics that are not representative of a Friedlander profile. The results of this liquid-filled cylinder study show a strong correlation between surface pressure gradients and internal “brain cavity”
pressurization. Therefore an experiment was designed to test the loading inside and outside of a shock tube to determine if significant variations in surface loading exist.