A Novel Apparatus Generating Complex Pressure Loadings for Traumatic Brain Injury Experiments
Abstract
Blast-induced traumatic brain injury (bTBI) has been widely accepted as a \signature" wound affecting service members in modern conflicts, yet the mechanisms that cause bTBI still remain poorly understood. One of the main reasons for such poor understanding is the technical challenge of reproducing under controlled laboratory conditions the typical time-varying loading cycles induced on brain tissue after a blast event. Blast events have a sub-millisecond onset of high pressure followed by complex dynamics resulting from interaction between the blast wave and the complex anatomical structure of the human head. To tackle these experimental challenges, our group developed a novel apparatus using a water-filled piston-cylinder assembly driven by a piezoelectric actuator to generate complex and fast-varying pressure profiles. The versatility of our apparatus in producing complex pressure profiles was demonstrated by generating a single pressure pulse with various pulse-widths and magnitudes, an approximate Friedlander waveform, and a multi-modal waveform. A feedforward controller was also designed for the apparatus enhancing its capabilities to generate custom, user-defined pressure profiles. The apparatus successfully generated pressures up to 450 kPa at frequencies up to 5 kHz. The designed apparatus is compact, easily portable, and highly controllable, making it well suited for biomedical applications. This apparatus can be used to conduct ex-vivo and in-vitro experiments involving animal brain tissue specimens, cell cultures, and organoids to explore their response to the complex pressure loadings observed during a bTBI event.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 23, 2020
- Accession Number
- AD1104410
Entities
People
- Adam M. Willis
- Ricardo Mejia-Alvarez
- Suhas Vidhate
Organizations
- Air Force Life Cycle Management Center