Biomechanics Injury Analysis of Brain White Matter Using Cohesive Zone Method

Diffuse Axonal Injury (DAI) can happen due to sudden motion of the head and loading and is a major cause of fatality and severe disabilities. This injury can be biomechanically translated in terms of change in axon geometry and its separation and distortion from the surrounding cells and the extra cellular matrix (ECM). To study DAI, a microscale biomechanical modeling of tissue is forwarded. This modeling benefits from the studies on fibrous composite modeling procedure to examine the tissue and the fibrous axonal injury. Employing a developed micromechanics failure analysis for fibrous composites, the white mater of the brain is assumed as the composite with axon as the fiber and ECM as the matrix. The focus here is on the interface and adhesion of the axon and ECM on the material characteristics of the tissue. The cohesive zone modeling (CZM) is employed to model the interface. The impact due to interface is studied in detail on the characteristics of the white matter tissue. This modeling method enhances the previously proposed micromechanics modeling of brain tissue and enable one to predict the impact due to sliding, and separation of the axons and ECM on the load transfer, stress and strain distribution of axon, ECM and tissue for a microstructural examination of DAI and tissue failure. This can improve the understanding of injury from mechanical perspective and help in detail predicting of any injuries in cellular level in brain tissue.