Development of a Predictive Multiscale Model for Blast and Blunt Traumatic Brain Injury
Abstract
Development of a Predictive Multiscale Model for Blast and Blunt Traumatic Brain Injury There is an urgent need for prevention and mitigation of traumatic brain injuries and particularly mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) in the armed forces, as to date, no brain injury protection protocol exists. Current equipment specifications for helmets and other protective equipment use dated metrics based on prevention of skull fracture rather than protection of the brain itself. The need to redefine equipment specifications spans a wide range of injury events from lower rate impacts such as those sustained from falls or vehicle accidents, to ballistic rate events such as when a helmet is struck by a bullet or fragmentation, to blast induced mild Traumatic Brain Injury (bTBI). Both blunt (mTBI) and blast-related TBIs can be considered a silent epidemic because the injuries may occur with no outward signs of physical trauma, and may go undiagnosed.Ultimately, preventing and mitigating bTBI and mTBI requires advancing the understanding of injury at a cellular level, as the exact force magnitudes and directions that initiate TBI at the cellular scale are still unknown. Knowledge of neuronal TBI thresholds is a critical and currently missing component of developing improved protective equipment, as well as equipment that addresses the full range of injury. With no established thresholds for these injuries, equipment, primarily helmets, cannot be designed to provide adequate protection.To close this knowledge gap and to substantially improve current evaluation and prevention strategies of TBI including significantly improved protective equipment, the objective of this proposal is built around five main objectives (specific aims). First, to develop a quantitative, cellular-based TBI injury risk curve for predicting the onset of mTBI and bTBI, as well as understanding the effect of repeated exposures on attenuating the cellular injury response. Second, to identify the most injurious types of head, neck and brain motions, and to predict the risk of injury for various ONR and DoD relevant exposure scenarios via high-fidelity 2D and 3D finite element models of the human head, brain and neck. Third, to develop a high-fidelity helmet liner impact sensing system that is validated to measure impact kinematics of the head, not the helmet or liner material and is fully adaptable to existing and future combat helmet liners. The fourth objective is to develop a quantitative engineering framework for characterizing the energy dissipation performance and brain protection potential of next generation, low weight helmet liner materials. The last objective is to quantify and detail the spatiotemporal expression profiles of various cell-produced TBI biomarkers during blunt, blast and directed energy threat injuries.The University of Wisconsin-Madison will lead collaborative pursuit of these five aims with partnership from Brown University, Robert Morris University, the Colorado School of Mines, and the University of Southern California. This proposal builds upon the previous success of the PANTHER program and establishes a comprehensive framework for identifying the onset of TBI in the brain and a new bottom-up approach for transformative material mitigation strategies. Results from this grant are anticipated to not only aid in predicting TBI but spur the development of improved head gear and testing standards, which currently are not capable of addressing mtbi or blast related TBI prevention.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jan 06, 2021
- Source ID
- N000142112044
Entities
People
- Christian Franck
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of Wisconsin System