A biomechanical model for prediction of brain consciousness state under hyper-gravity condition

• Main Author: Swandito
• Other Authors: Martin Skote
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Mechanical engineering::Fluid mechanics
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/65542
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Gravitational-force induced Loss of Consciousness (G-LOC) poses real potential danger to the safety of the pilot and the aircraft. Because of this, it is desirable if some premonitory indicator can be developed to alert the pilots if he/she is going to reach the G-LOC state. A Biomechanical model utilizing both real time measurements and computations based on an integrated cerebral blood flow modelling was developed in order to achieve the aforementioned objective. The research work was divided into a few stages. The first stage was the In vitro assessment of the Doppler technique as the input modality utilizing a custom made mechatronics system. The second stage comprised the derivation of the blood flow modelling by utilizing Computational Fluid Dynamics. In the third stage, a modified Windkessel model was developed to monitor the cerebral blood flow volume that goes to the brain during different hyper-gravity conditions while accounting for the other parts of the systemic circulation. In the last stage, all the models and the inputs from the sensor measurement were integrated and analyses were performed on the hybrid model. Obtained experimental data showed the feasibility of the Doppler technique for the purpose of the study. Simulation of the individual models and the hybrid model were carried out under a number of parameters while exploring a set of possibilities which may occur in real applications. From a few hundreds of simulations performed based on extensive scenarios, analysis of the result were deemed to be satisfactory and with this the efficacy of the model was concluded very positively. Major contributions include the arguably pioneer hybridization of the Doppler and CFD for flow measurement, and the development of the customizable integrated G-LOC predictive model which attempted to solve the crucial problems in the aviation industry.