Impact behaviors of human skull sandwich cellular bones: Theoretical models and simulation

Abstract

The impact behavior of human skull sandwich cellular bones with gradient geometric feature is investigated using theoretical and numerical methods. To predict the structural impact performance theoretically, the skull bone is considered as a multi-layer sandwich structure where the effect of the number of layers on its impact behavior is discussed. Three sections with different porosities and thicknesses obtained from the rebuilt 3D skull model are selected, and the numerical simulation is carried out to illustrate the reliability of the theoretical model. A close agreement between the numerical and theoretical results is observed. Moreover, the energy absorption capacity of the skull in the theoretical model is further demonstrated by experimental results of the human skull under impact loading from the literature. Numerical and experimental results show that the theoretical model can effectively predict the impact performance of the skull cellular bone. Therefore, this study can provide a reliable theoretical basis for the evaluation of the mechanical behavior of the human skull under dynamic loads.

Keywords: Cavity-expansion model; Cellular structure; Energy absorption; Impact; Skull bone.