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. 2020 Jul 7:2020:6718495.
doi: 10.1155/2020/6718495. eCollection 2020.

Finite Element Analysis of the Mechanism of Traumatic Aortic Rupture (TAR)

JiFeng Nan  1 , Mohammadreza Rezaei  1 , Rashid Mazhar  2 , Fadi Jaber  3 , Farayi Musharavati  4 , Erfan Zalnezhad  1   5 , Muhammad E H Chowdhury  6
Affiliations

Finite Element Analysis of the Mechanism of Traumatic Aortic Rupture (TAR)

JiFeng Nan et al. Comput Math Methods Med. .

Abstract

As many as 80% of patients with TAR die on the spot while out of those reaching a hospital, 30% would die within 24 hours. Thus, it is essential to better understand and prevent this injury. The exact mechanics of TAR are unknown. Although most researchers approve it as a common-sense deceleration injury, the exact detailed mechanism of TRA still remains unidentified. In this work, a deceleration mechanism of TAR was carried out using finite element analysis (FEA). The FE analysis aimed to predict internal kinematics of the aorta and assist to comprehend the mechanism of aorta injury. The model contains the heart, lungs, thoracic aorta vessel, and rib cage. High-resolution computerized tomography (HR CT scan) was used to provide pictures that were reconstructed by MIMICS software. ANSYS FE simulation was carried out to investigate the behavior of the aorta in the thoracic interior after deceleration occurred during a car crash. The finite element analysis indicated that maximum stress and strain applied to the aorta were from 5.4819e5 to 2.614e6 Pa and 0.21048 to 0.62676, respectively, in the Y-direction when the initial velocity increased from 10 to 25 m/s. Furthermore, in the X-direction when the velocity changed from 15 to 25 m/s, the stress and strain values increased from 5.17771e5 to 2.3128e6 and from 0.22445 to 0.618, respectively.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Various proposed mechanisms of TAR [1].
Figure 2
Figure 2
Modeling result of the whole chest in MIMICS (a) front view, (b) top view, (c, d) side views of chest MRI pictures, (e) general view of the whole model, and (f) general view of the aorta-heart model.
Figure 3
Figure 3
ANSYS 3D views of the whole model (a) with mesh (aorta, heart, lungs, and ribcage), (b) the cross-section, (c) the model with the seat belt, and (d) the transparent model with an emphasis on aorta and heart along with ligamentum arteriosum.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Hydrostatic pressure simulation.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Y-axis impact at 10 m/s (a) total deformation (front view), (b) cross-section (side view), (c) equivalent stress, and (d) equivalent elastic strain.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Y-axis impact at 15 m/s (a) total deformation (front view), (b) cross-section (side view), (c) equivalent stress, and (d) equivalent elastic strain.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Y-axis impact at 20 m/s (a) total deformation (front view), (b) cross-section (side view), (c) equivalent stress, and (d) equivalent elastic strain.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Y-axis impact at 25 m/s (a) total deformation (front view), (b) cross-section (side view), (c) equivalent stress, and (d) equivalent elastic strain.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Equivalent stress and equivalent elastic strain for impact at X-axis under different velocities.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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