Eye trauma results in 30,000 cases of blindness each year in the United States and is the second leading cause of monocular visual impairment. Eye injury is caused by a wide variety of projectile impacts and loading scenarios with common sources of trauma being motor vehicle crashes, military operations, and sporting impacts. For the current study, 79 experimental eye impact tests in literature were computationally modeled to analyze global and localized responses of the eye to a variety of blunt projectile impacts. Simulations were run with eight different projectiles (airsoft pellets, baseball, air gun pellets commonly known as BBs, blunt impactor, paintball, aluminum, foam, and plastic rods) to characterize effects of the projectile size, mass, geometry, material properties, and velocity on eye response. This study presents a matched comparison of experimental test results and computational model outputs including stress, energy, and pressure used to evaluate risk of eye injury. In general, the computational results agreed with the experimental results. A receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to establish the stress and pressure thresholds that best discriminated for globe rupture in the matched experimental tests. Globe rupture is predicted by the computational simulations when the corneoscleral stress exceeds 17.21 MPa or the vitreous pressure exceeds 1.01 MPa. Peak stresses were located at the apex of the cornea, the limbus, or the equator depending on the type of projectile impacting the eye. A multivariate correlation analysis revealed that area-normalized kinetic energy was the best single predictor of peak stress and pressure. Additional incorporation of a relative size parameter that relates the projectile area to the area of the eye reduced stress response variability and may be of importance in eye injury prediction. The modeling efforts shed light on the injury response of the eye when subjected to a variety of blunt projectile impacts and further validate the eye model’s ability to predict globe rupture. Results of this study are relevant to the design and regulation of safety systems and equipment to protect against eye injury.
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e-mail: jstitzel@wfubmc.edu
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March 2011
Research Papers
Evaluation of Different Projectiles in Matched Experimental Eye Impact Simulations
Ashley A. Weaver,
Ashley A. Weaver
Center for Injury Biomechanics,
Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University
, Winston-Salem, NC 27157; School of Medicine, Wake Forest University
, Winston-Salem, NC 27157
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Eric A. Kennedy,
Eric A. Kennedy
Department of Biomedical Engineering,
Bucknell University
, Lewisburg, PA 17837
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Stefan M. Duma,
Stefan M. Duma
Center for Injury Biomechanics,
Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University
, Blacksburg, VA 24061; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
, Blacksburg, VA 24061
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Joel D. Stitzel
Joel D. Stitzel
Center for Injury Biomechanics,
e-mail: jstitzel@wfubmc.edu
Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University
, Winston-Salem, NC 27157; School of Medicine, Wake Forest University
, Winston-Salem, NC 27157
Search for other works by this author on:
Ashley A. Weaver
Center for Injury Biomechanics,
Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University
, Winston-Salem, NC 27157; School of Medicine, Wake Forest University
, Winston-Salem, NC 27157
Eric A. Kennedy
Department of Biomedical Engineering,
Bucknell University
, Lewisburg, PA 17837
Stefan M. Duma
Center for Injury Biomechanics,
Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University
, Blacksburg, VA 24061; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
, Blacksburg, VA 24061
Joel D. Stitzel
Center for Injury Biomechanics,
Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University
, Winston-Salem, NC 27157; School of Medicine, Wake Forest University
, Winston-Salem, NC 27157e-mail: jstitzel@wfubmc.edu
J Biomech Eng. Mar 2011, 133(3): 031002 (10 pages)
Published Online: February 4, 2011
Article history
Received:
August 29, 2010
Revised:
November 22, 2010
Posted:
January 3, 2011
Published:
February 4, 2011
Online:
February 4, 2011
Citation
Weaver, A. A., Kennedy, E. A., Duma, S. M., and Stitzel, J. D. (February 4, 2011). "Evaluation of Different Projectiles in Matched Experimental Eye Impact Simulations." ASME. J Biomech Eng. March 2011; 133(3): 031002. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4003328
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