Poroviscoelastic Modeling of the Mechanical and Fluid Response of Liver Tissue in Unconfined Compression

Crash injury prevention research has yielded many preventative measures that work in conjunction to protect vital areas of the human body. However, some of these methods of fatality prevention have been shown to increase injury frequency in other areas of the body, including the abdomen. Within the abdomen, the liver is particularly prone to injury due to its size and relatively fixed position. One known mode of injury to this organ is burst injury, caused by rapidly increasing fluid pressure within this highly vascular organ. Exploration of this type of injury has shown fluid pressure to correlate well to liver injury severity in perfused whole-organ rapid compression testing. This study aimed to address one level of liver multi-scale testing by conducting unconfined compression tests on unperfused and perfused tissue blocks. This data was then used in model development, leading to finite element models capable of predicting mechanical and fluid response in tissue specimens. This strategy serves as the foundation to future testing and model development, working towards higher compression rates, larger deformation and increased geometric complexity. The eventual goal is the integration of a liver model into a whole body model, allowing the advancement of high-fidelity virtual crash test dummies and improved vehicle safety.

Grantor dc:publisher

Wake Forest University

Year dc:date.issued

2010

Author dc:creator

• Raghunathan, Smitha

• Multiscale

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/14888

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:wakespace.lib.wfu.edu:10339/14888