Peter Halldin

Development of a Finite Element Model of the Upper Cervical Spine and a Parameter Study of Ligament Characteristics

Study Design. Numeric techniques were used to study the upper cervical spine. Objectives. To develop and validate an anatomic detailed finite element model of the ligamentous upper cervical spine and to analyze the effect of material properties of the ligaments on spinal kinematics. Summary of Background Data. Cervical spinal injuries may be prevented with an increased knowledge of spinal behavior and injury mechanisms. The finite element method is tempting to use because stresses and strains in the different tissues can be studied during the course of loading. The authors know of no published results so far of validated finite element models that implement the complex geometry of the upper cervical spine. Methods. The finite element model was developed with anatomic detail from computed tomographic images of the occiput to the C3. The ligaments were modeled with nonlinear spring elements. The model was validated for axial rotation, flexion, extension, lateral bending, and tension for 1.5 Nm, 10 Nm, and 1500 N. A material property sensitivity study was conducted for the ligaments. Results. The model correlated with experimental data for all load cases. Moments of 1.5 Nm produced joint rotations of 3° to 23° depending on loading direction. The parameter study confirmed that the mechanical properties of the upper cervical ligaments play an important role in spinal kinematics. The capsular ligaments had the largest impact on spinal kinematics (40% change). Conclusions. The anatomic detailed finite element model of the upper cervical spine realistically simulates the complex kinematics of the craniocervical region. An injury that changes the material characteristics of any spinal ligament will influence the structural behavior of the upper cervical spine.

The Effect of Muscle Activation on Neck Response

Prevention of neck injuries due to complex loading, such as occurs in traffic accidents, requires knowledge of neck injury mechanisms and tolerances. The influence of muscle activation on outcome of the injuries is not clearly understood. Numerical simulations of neck injury accidents can contribute to increase the understanding of injury tolerances. The finite element (FE) method is suitable because it gives data on stress and strain of individual tissues that can be used to predict injuries based on tissue level criteria. The aim of this study was to improve and validate an anatomically detailed FE model of the human cervical spine by implement neck musculature with passive and active material properties. Further, the effect of activation time and force on the stresses and strains in the cervical tissues were studied for dynamic loading due to frontal and lateral impacts. The FE model used includes the seven cervical vertebrae, the spinal ligaments, the facet joints with cartilage, the intervertebral disc, the skull base connected to a rigid head, and a spring element representation of the neck musculature. The passive muscle properties were defined with bilinear force-deformation curves and the active properties were defined using a material model based on the Hill equation. The FE models responses were compared to volunteer experiments for frontal and lateral impacts of 15 and 7 g. Then, the active muscle properties where varied to study their effect on the motion of the skull, the stress level of the cortical and trabecular bone, and the strain of the ligaments. The FE model had a good correlation to the experimental motion corridors when the muscles activation was implemented. For the frontal impact a suitable peak muscle force was 40 N/cm2 whereas 20 N/cm2 was appropriate for the side impact. The stress levels in the cortical and trabecular bone were influenced by the point forces introduced by the muscle spring elements; therefore a more detailed model of muscle insertion would be preferable. The deformation of each spinal ligament was normalized with an appropriate failure deformation to predict soft tissue injury. For the frontal impact, the muscle activation turned out to mainly protect the upper cervical spine ligaments, while the musculature shielded all the ligaments disregarding spinal level for lateral impacts. It is concluded that the neck musculature does not have the same protective properties during different impacts loadings.

A New Laboratory Rig for Evaluating Helmets Subject to Oblique Impacts

Current requirements and regulations governing motorcycle helmets around the world are based on test results of purely radial impacts, which are statistically rare in real accidents. This study presents a new impact rig for subjecting test helmets to oblique impacts, which therefore is able to test impacts of increased statistical relevance to real motorcycle accidents. A number of different head-helmet interfaces have been investigated. A test rig was constructed to produce oblique impacts to helmets simulating those occurring in real motorcycle accidents. A Hybrid III dummy head was fitted with accelerometers to measure the accelerations arising during impact testing. The equipment used for data collection was validated in both translational and rotational acceleration. In order to better resemble the human head, an artificial scalp was fitted to the hybrid dummy. The same test rig was used to investigate the performance of a number of different helmets. Impact velocities ranging from 7.3 to 9.9 m/s were tested using a number of different impact angles and impact areas. This study shows that the new test rig can be used to provide useful data at speeds of up to 50 km/h and with impact angles varying from purely tangential to purely radial. The rotational accelerations observed differ greatly depending on both helmet and scalp designs. For example, a helmet with a sliding outer shell placed on an experimental head fitted with an artificial scalp (made to resemble the human scalp) reduces rotational accelerations of the head by up to 56%, compared with those of an experimental head fitted with a fixed scalp and conventional helmet. The degree of slippage between the skull and the scalp, and between the scalp and the helmet, leads to considerable variation in the results. This innovative test rig appears to provide an accurate method for measuring accelerations in an oblique impact to a helmet. In order to obtain a good level of repeatability in oblique impact testing, it is crucial that the helmet be fixed to the head in the exact same way in each individual test. Both the position and the angle of impact must be reproduced identically in each test. The test rig used here has shown that this type of rig can be used to compare different helmet designs, and it therefore is able to contribute to achieving safer helmets.

Evaluation of a combination of continuum and truss finite elements in a model of passive and active muscle tissue

The numerical method of finite elements (FE) is a powerful tool for analysing stresses and strains in the human body. One area of increasing interest is the skeletal musculature. This study evaluated modelling of skeletal muscle tissue using a combination of passive non-linear, viscoelastic solid elements and active Hill-type truss elements, the super-positioned muscle finite element (SMFE). The performance of the combined materials and elements was evaluated for eccentric motions by simulating a tensile experiment from a published study on a stimulated rabbit muscle including three different strain rates. It was also evaluated for isometric and concentric contractions. The resulting stress–strain curves had the same overall pattern as the experiments, with the main limitation being sensitivity to the active force–length relation. It was concluded that the SMFE could model active and passive muscle tissue at constant rate elongations for strains below failure, as well as isometric and concentric contractions.

Injury tolerances for oblique impact helmet testing

The most frequently sustained severe injuries in motorcycle crashes are injuries to the head, and many of these are caused by rotational force. Rotational force is most commonly the result of oblique impacts to the head. Good testing methods for evaluating the effects of such impacts are currently lacking. There is also a need for improving our understanding of the effects of oblique impacts on the human head. Helmet standards currently in use today do not measure rotational effects in test dummy heads. However rotational force to the head results in large shear strains arising in the brain, which has been proposed as a cause of traumatic brain injuries like diffuse axonal injuries (DAI). This paper investigates a number of well-defined impacts, simulated using a detailed finite element (FE) model of the human head, an FE model of the Hybrid III dummy head and an FE model of a helmet. The same simulations were performed on both the FE human head model and the FE Hybrid III head model, both fitted with helmets. Simulations on both these heads were performed to describe the relationship between load levels in the FE Hybrid III head model and strains in the brain tissue in the FE human head model. In this study, the change in rotational velocity and the head injury criterion (HIC) value were chosen as appropriate measurements. It was concluded that both rotational and translational effects are important when predicting the strain levels in the human brain.

A new oblique impact test for motorcycle helmets

Abstract A new oblique impact test for motorcycle helmets is described, simulating a fall from a motorcycle on to the road surface or the windshield of a car. An instrumented headform falls vertically to impact a horizontally moving rigid rough or deformable surface. Both the impact site on the helmet, and the vertical and horizontal velocities, can be varied, while the headform linear and rotational accelerations are measured. The rig was used to compare a new helmet design with current helmets, which are designed to pass impact tests in which the impact force is perpendicular to the helmet surface. The new design, which has a low friction layer between the shell and the liner, reduced, by up to 50%, the rotational acceleration of the head compared with conventional designs.

The importance of muscle tension on the outcome of impacts with a major vertical component

The hypothesis that muscle tension protects the spine from injuries in helicopter scenarios was tested using a finite-element model of the human head and neck. It was compared with cadaver crash sled experiment with good correlation. Then, simulations were performed with a sinusoidal velocity (5–22 G) applied at T1 60° to the horizontal plane. The model with relaxed muscle activation had delayed and decreased peak head rotation compared with passive properties only. Full muscle activation decreased the injury risk for the 13.5–22 G impacts. A sensitivity study of the impact angle showed a very slight variation of the resulting neck flexion, and 1° change affected all ligament injury predictions less than 4%. Finally, simulations with helmets resulted in increased ligament and disc strains with increasing helmet mass and with an anterior or inferior shift of the centre of gravity. It is concluded that the hypothesis seems to hold.

How does a three-dimensional continuum muscle model affect the kinematics and muscle strains of a finite element neck model compared to a discrete muscle model in rear-end, frontal, and lateral impacts

Study Design. A finite element (FE) model of the human neck with incorporated continuum or discrete muscles was used to simulate experimental impacts in rear, frontal, and lateral directions. Objective. The aim of this study was to determine how a continuum muscle model influences the impact behavior of a FE human neck model compared with a discrete muscle model. Summary of Background Data. Most FE neck models used for impact analysis today include a spring element musculature and are limited to discrete geometries and nodal output results. A solid-element muscle model was thought to improve the behavior of the model by adding properties such as tissue inertia and compressive stiffness and by improving the geometry. It would also predict the strain distribution within the continuum elements. Methods. A passive continuum muscle model with nonlinear viscoelastic materials was incorporated into the KTH neck model together with active spring muscles and used in impact simulations. The resulting head and vertebral kinematics was compared with the results from a discrete muscle model as well as volunteer corridors. The muscle strain prediction was compared between the 2 muscle models. Results. The head and vertebral kinematics were within the volunteer corridors for both models when activated. The continuum model behaved more stiffly than the discrete model and needed less active force to fit the experimental results. The largest difference was seen in the rear impact. The strain predicted by the continuum model was lower than for the discrete model. Conclusion. The continuum muscle model stiffened the response of the KTH neck model compared with a discrete model, and the strain prediction in the muscles was improved.

Neck muscle load distribution in lateral, frontal, and rear-end impacts: a three-dimensional finite element analysis.

Study Design. A finite element (FE) model of the human neck was used to study the distribution of neck muscle loads during multidirectional impacts. The computed load distributions were compared to experimental electromyography (EMG) recordings. Objective. To quantify passive muscle loads in nonactive cervical muscles during impacts of varying direction and energy, using a three-dimensional (3D) continuum FE muscle model. Summary of Background Data. Experimental and numerical studies have confirmed the importance of muscles in the impact response of the neck. Although EMG has been used to measure the relative activity levels in neck muscles during impact tests, this technique has not been able to measure all neck muscles and cannot directly quantify the force distribution between the muscles. A numerical model can give additional insight into muscle loading during impact. Methods. An FE model with solid element musculature was used to simulate frontal, lateral, and rear-end vehicle impacts at 4 peak accelerations. The peak cross-sectional forces, internal energies, and effective strains were calculated for each muscle and impact configuration. The computed load distribution was compared with experimental EMG data. Results. The load distribution in the cervical muscles varied with load direction. Peak sectional forces, internal energies, and strains increased in most muscles with increasing impact acceleration. The dominant muscles identified by the model for each direction were splenius capitis, levator scapulae, and sternocleidomastoid in lateral impacts, splenius capitis, and trapezoid in frontal impacts, and sternocleidomastoid, rectus capitis posterior minor, and hyoids in rear-end impacts. This corresponded with the most active muscles identified by EMG recordings, although within these muscles the distribution of forces and EMG levels were not the same. Conclusion. The passive muscle forces, strains, and energies computed using a continuum FE model of the cervical musculature distinguished between impact directions and peak accelerations, and on the basis of prior studies, isolated the most important muscles for each direction.

Correlation between Injury Pattern and Finite Element Analysis in Biomechanical Reconstructions of Traumatic Brain Injuries

At present, Finite Element (FE) analyses are often used as a tool to better understand the mechanisms of head injury. Previously, these models have been compared to cadaver experiments, with the next step under development being accident reconstructions. Thus far, the main focus has been on deriving an injury threshold and little effort has been put into correlating the documented injury location with the response displayed by the FE model. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to introduce a novel image correlation method that compares the response of the FE model with medical images. The injuries shown on the medical images were compared to the strain pattern in the FE model and evaluated by two indices; the Overlap Index (OI) and the Location Index (LI). As the name suggests, OI measures the area which indicates both injury in the medical images and high strain values in the FE images. LI evaluates the difference in center of mass in the medical and FE images. A perfect match would give an OI and LI equal to 1. This method was applied to three bicycle accident reconstructions. The reconstructions gave an average OI between 0.01 and 0.19 for the three cases and between 0.39 and 0.88 for LI. Performing injury reconstructions are a challenge as the information from the accidents often is uncertain. The suggested method evaluates the response in an objective way which can be used in future injury reconstruction studies.