A Constitutive Relationship for Large Deformation Finite Element Modeling of Brain Tissue

Finite element modeling of the finite deformation response of soft tissues presents a formidable challenge. This paper discusses the use of a large strain constitutive relationship suitable for modeling brain tissue as well as other soft biological tissue. Available experimental data on the finite deformation response of brain tissue is used to characterize the constitutive properties. Analytical modeling and finite element simulation of the experiment are performed using the proposed constitutive formulation. The numerical results compare favorably with the experimental data.