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Updated: Oct 22, 2026

A Coupled Experiment-finite Element Modeling Methodology for Assessing High Strain Rate Mechanical Response of Soft Biomaterials
Published on: May 18, 2015
Coupled compressible flow and hyperelastic deformation in gas-driven channels within brain tissue with forensic
Valentina Kosmerl1, Alexander L Yarin1
1Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60607-7022, USA.
Abstract:
The present work is devoted to simulations of muzzle-gas/air penetration into bullet channels of different orientation in brain tissue in human skull after short-range shooting. This involves compressible gas penetration and flow in a channel created by a supersonic bullet. The gas presses onto the channel wall and the surrounding hyperelastic brain tissue yields. As a result, the channel expands manifesting the so-called cavitation. The expanding channel interacts with the nearby parts of the skull, which restricts the brain tissue motion and causes appearance of the overloaded sections of the channel and the loss of its original axial symmetry. Channel contraction is also observed. The results might be important as a forensic tool capable of distinguishing between genuine suicide or a homicide staged as a suicide.
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