Effects of Loading Conditions and Skull Fracture on Load Transfer to Head

Abstract

This study focuses on the effect of skull fracture on the load transfer to the head for low-velocity frontal impact of the head against a rigid wall or being impacted by a heavy projectile. The skull was modeled as a cortical–trabecular–cortical-layered structure in order to better capture the skull deformation and consequent failure. The skull components were modeled with an elastoplastic with failure material model. Different methods were explored to model the material response after failure, such as eroding element technique, conversion to fluid, and conversion to smoothed particle hydrodynamic (SPH) particles. The load transfer to the head was observed to decrease with skull fracture.