Elastic Analysis of a Skull

Abstract

A finite-element elastic analysis is made of a skull. Measurements were made of the geometry and thickness of a skull. The skull was then idealized with a doubly curved and arbitrary triangular shell element. Results suggest that the skull is well built for resistance to front loads. The importance of using a composite material through the thickness of the shell was established. On the basis of tensile cracking at maximum elastic stress, loads of 3500 lb and 1400 lb were predicted for the first cracking of the skull due to front and side loading, respectively.