Events Calendar

Roy J. Carver Department of Biomedical Engineering Graduate Seminar (BME:5010)

Sarah Bentil, PhD
Assistant Professor & William March Scholar in Mechanical Engineering 
Department of Mechanical Engineering
owa State University of Science and Technology

Viscoelastic response of brains exposed to a shock wave

Abstract: In recent years, there has been an escalation of blast-induced traumatic brain injuries (bTBI) caused by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) during global conflict. Blast injuries are attributed to the blast wave and has the capability to cause life-threatening injuries and fatalities. However, the mechanical behavior of brains exposed to shock waves is still unknown. Thus, hindering improved countermeasure development to mitigate bTBI. This seminar highlights a study aimed to understand the viscoelastic response of shock wave exposed brain tissue. Postmortem porcine brain tissues were subjected to shock wave exposure, prior to unconfined compression experiments at a linear rate of 5 and 50 mm/min to a strain of 20%. The shock wave exposed tissue was allowed to relax for two minutes, after being compressed to 20% strain. The fractional Zener (FZ) constitutive model was then applied to describe the viscoelastic behavior of the brain tissue.