Abstract
An advanced physics-based simulation of firearms injury to the human cranium is presented, modeling by finite elements the collision of a firearm projectile into a human parietal bone. The space-discretized equations of motion are explicitly integrated in time with Newmark's time-stepping algorithm. The impact of the projectile on the skull, as well as the collisions between flying fragments, are controlled through a nonsmooth contact algorithm. Cohesive theories of fracture, in conjunction with adaptive remeshing, control the nucleation and the propagation of fractures. The progressive opening of fracture surfaces is governed by a thermodynamically irreversible cohesive law embedded into cohesive-interface elements. Numerical results compare well with forensic data of actual firearm wounds to human crania.
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Dedicated to the memory of Prof. Mike Crisfield, for his cheerfulness and cooperation as a colleague and friend over many years.
The authors would like to thank the W. M. Keck Foundation for their financial support for this research through the Keck Discovery Fund. Photographs in Figs. 1 and 2 provided by Valeri Craigle, Eccles Health Sciences Library, University of Utah, Copyright © 2000.
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Mota, A., Klug, W., Ortiz, M. et al. Finite-element simulation of firearm injury to the human cranium. Computational Mechanics 31, 115–121 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00466-002-0398-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00466-002-0398-8