Biomechanics of Head/Brain Due to Angular Head Acceleration

In vehicular collisions, contact sports or falls, in addition to blunt impacts, head is subjected to high angular accelerations. This causes relative motion between the brain and skull and an increase in contact and shear stresses in meningeal region which leads to brain injuries. In our previous study Zoghi et al (14), the mechanical role of the fibrous trabeculae and the Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) in Subarachnoid space (SAS) were investigated. This is a continuation study of (14) where the attention is focused on the angular acceleration of head rather than blunt impacts. Improved 2-D solid and fluid global models of the head and a local model of the SAS trabeculae were developed. The CSF pressure distribution and the trabeculae deformations were determined. It is expected that in angular acceleration of head, similar to blunt impact, the arachnoid trabeculae reduce the pressure in the CSF and both play a major role in damping the acceleration.