Finite element modeling of human placental tissue.

Motor vehicle crashes account for a large portion of placental abruption and fetal losses. To better understand the material properties of the human placenta, a Finite Element (FE) model of human placenta tissue was created and verified using data from uniaxial tension tests. Sixty-four tensile tests at three different strain rates of 7% strain/s, 70% strain/s, and 700% strain/s from six whole human placentas were used for model development. Nominal stresses were calculated by dividing forces at the grips by the original cross-sectional area. Nominal strains were calculated by dividing cross-head displacement by the original gauge length. A detailed methodology for interpreting experimental data for application to material model development is presented. A model of the tension coupon was created in LS-DYNA and stretched in the same manner as the uniaxial tension tests. The behavior of the material was optimized to the uniaxial tension test using a multi-island genetic algorithm. The results demonstrate good correlation between experiments and the model, with an average difference of 2% between the optimized FE and experimental first principal stress at the termination state. The material parameters found in this study can be utilized in FE models of placental tissues for behavior under dynamic loading.