A finite element method parametric study of the dynamic response of the human brain with different cerebrospinal fluid constitutive properties

Abstract

A major role for the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is to provide effective damping against sudden intracranial brain motions during dynamic head impact. This paper examines the roles of CSF properties on human brain responses under certain impact loadings. The brain is assumed to have a hyperviscoelastic material behaviour, while CSF is considered to be fluid-like elastic, viscoelastic, and nearly incompressible elastic with a low shear modulus and a high bulk modulus. A finite element parametric investigation on a head model under different scenarios of impact is conducted. In the study, the CSF material parameters are varied within the expected range of change, while other components of the head model are kept constant. The results indicate that the solutions from the modelling of CSF by a fluid-like medium are more realistic and support the findings of the experiment. The results also indicate that varying CSF properties did not have a major impact on the peak intracranial pressures but the impact on brain principal and shear strains are relatively significant. A sizeable impact on the relative motion of the brain, with respect to the skull, can also be observed.