Embedded Finite Elements for Modeling Axonal Injury

The purpose of this paper is to propose and develop a large strain embedded finite element formulation that can be used to explicitly model axonal fiber bundle tractography from diffusion tensor imaging of the brain. Once incorporated, the fibers offer the capability to monitor tract-level strains that give insight into the biomechanics of brain injury. We show that one commercial software has a volume and mass redundancy issue when including embedded axonal fiber and that a newly developed algorithm is able to correct this discrepancy. We provide a validation analysis for stress and energy to demonstrate the method.