- Simulations of compressible muzzle gas and air penetration into supersonic bullet-created channels in brain tissue following short-range shooting.
- Muzzle gas pressurises channel walls causing hyperelastic brain tissue yield, cavitation driven channel expansion, interaction with skull, asymmetric overload and channel contraction.
- Findings offer forensic tool potential to distinguish genuine suicides from homicides staged as suicide by analysing gas induced channel morphology.
J Mech Behav Biomed Mater. 2026 Oct 16;185:107686. doi: 10.1016/j.jmbbm.2026.107686. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
The present work is devoted to simulations of muzzle-gas/air penetration into bullet channels of different orientation in brain tissue in human skull after short-range shooting. This involves compressible gas penetration and flow in a channel created by a supersonic bullet. The gas presses onto the channel wall and the surrounding hyperelastic brain tissue yields. As a result, the channel expands manifesting the so-called cavitation. The expanding channel interacts with the nearby parts of the skull, which restricts the brain tissue motion and causes appearance of the overloaded sections of the channel and the loss of its original axial symmetry. Channel contraction is also observed. The results might be important as a forensic tool capable of distinguishing between genuine suicide or a homicide staged as a suicide.
PMID:42901133 | DOI:10.1016/j.jmbbm.2026.107686
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