The internal deformation of the brain is far more complex than the rigid motion of the skull. An ultrasound imaging technique that we have developed has a combination of penetration, frame-rate, and motion-detection accuracy required to directly observe the formation and evolution of shear shock waves in the brain. Experiments at low impacts on the traumatic-brain-injury scale demonstrate that they are spontaneously generated and propagate within the porcine brain. Compared to the initially smooth impact, the acceleration at the shock front is amplified up to a factor of 8.5. This highly localized increase in acceleration suggests that shear shock waves are a previously unappreciated mechanism that could play a significant role in traumatic brain injury.

• Received 13 December 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.8.044024