Citation

Misra JC, Chakravarty S. Math. Model. 1985; 6(2): 83-96.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1985, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/0270-0255(85)90001-6

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The present investigation is concerned with the determination of the dynamic response of the human head-neck system, represented by a fluid-filled prolate spheroidal shell constrained by a viscoelastic beam, subjected to an impulsive load. The shell material representing the skull, is considered to be homogeneous, isotropic and elastic while the fluid, the representative of the brain tissue is assumed to be linear, isotropic, and viscoelastic. The problem is formulated in terms of prolate spheroidal coordinates. The singularities involved in the governing equations of motion are removed by a suitable transformation of the concerned dependent variable. Initially, the solutions of the boundary value problem are obtained in the Laplace transform space, through the use of a suitable finite difference technique. Laplace inversion is carried out by employing suitable numerical techniques. Variations of the displacement and the strain in the skull as also the pressure distribution in the brain are presented graphically. A comparison with available experimental results is also made.