Effects of csf tensile failure on blast induced traumatic brain injury (btbi)

Cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) fills the gap between the skull and brain. As CSF is 99% water, which has a small tensile strength. When human head is exposed to blast waves, the intracranial pressure may easily exceed the tensile strength of CSF. In such cases, the stiffness of CSF layer is reduced to zero, which creates a discontinuous pressure distribution to the surrounding brain tissue. In this study, we use a 3D high-fidelity human head model and investigate the effect of CSF tensile failure on bTBI. Our results show that regardless of blast wave directions, CSF tensile failure can lead to the increase of brain deformation at its boundary with CSF. This might provide insights for future bTBI protection strategy.