Finite element modeling of the biomechanical behaviour of the human skull bone

F. Haddani, A. El Maliki

Abstract: Human skull bone has a natural sandwich structure with a tri-layer configuration consisting of an inner and outer cortical table surrounding a core of trabecular bone, which gives it an exceptionally high-performance index for resisting bending and buckling. The FE model used in this research work was developed to identify the mechanical properties of skull bone that can assist in identifying the cause of injury and facilitate the planning and performance of surgical procedures by craniofacial surgeons as well as the development of biomaterials for bone regeneration. We generated a cellular solid with a sandwich structure, and porosity depending on the depth that mimics the structure of the skull bone. Then the effective Young’s and shear moduli and their correlation with the morphological parameters were examined. Significant differences were identified in the effective’s mechanical properties between different locations of cranial sites, which is in agreement with published experimental results. On the other hand, the stress-strain behaviour of the sandwich structure was simulated by uniaxial compression, in the direction perpendicular to the planes of the cortical tables.

Series on Biomechanics, Vol.36 No.3 (2022), 68-80
DOI: 10.7546/SB.06.03.2022

Keywords: cellular solids; computational biomechanics; sandwich structure; Skull bone

Date published: 2022-11-01