Head injuries are one of the main causes of death or permanent invalidity in everyday life. The main purpose of the present work is to build and validate a numerical model of human head in order to evaluate pressure and stress distributions in bones and brain tissues due to impact. Geometrical characteristics for the finite element model have been extracted from CT and MRI scanner images, while material mechanical characteristics have been taken from literature. The model is validated by comparing the numerical results and the experimental results obtained by Nahum in 1977.

The proposed numerical model is promising even if some quantitative differences with the experimental results can be found due to the fact that all the inner organs are considered as a continuum (without sliding interfaces or fluid elements) and due to the geometrical difference between the head used in the experimental test and the head used as reference to build the numerical model.

The protecting action of the ventricles and of several membranes (dura mater, tentorium and falx) has been evaluated taking into account known injury mechanisms.