Mechanism of Coup and Contrecoup Injuries Induced by a Knock-Out Punch

Primary Objective: The interaction of cerebrospinal fluid with the brain parenchyma in an impact scenario is studied. Research Design: A computational fluid-structure interaction model is used to simulate the interaction of cerebrospinal fluid with a comprehensive brain model. Methods and Procedures: The method of smoothed particle hydrodynamics is used to simulate the fluid flow, induced by the impact, simultaneously with finite element analysis to solve the large deformations in the brain model. Main Outcomes and Results: Mechanism of injury resulting in concussion is demonstrated. The locations with the highest stress values on the brain parenchyma are shown. Conclusions: Our simulations found that the damage to the brain resulting from the contrecoup injury is more severe than that resulting from the coup injury. Additionally, we show that the contrecoup injury does not always appear on the side opposite from where impact occurs.