A new biomechanical approach on cranial sutures function: The role of contact elements in linear and non-linear models

Understanding cranial sutures and how they relieve and dissipate stress is essential to assess their role in cranial biomechanics and to develop highly accurate predictive models. This involves examining how ontogeny affects cranial sutures, as well as their morphology and function, and how these changes through time may impact essential biomechanical loadings such as chewing or direct biting. In this work we study the cranial sutures of Crocodylus niloticus in detail using contact elements under finite element analysis. Contact elements permit the creation of a physical relationship between two bones that are in contact and even to configure these relationships, e.g. in terms of movement or flexibility. The definition of bone contacts may require linear and/or non-linear computational solutions to attain higher accuracy. Herein, skull geometry is tested to determine how they may be altered by different types of contacts under various conditions. As predicted, the absence of sutures or ..., , , # Supplementary Information

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.4tmpg4fk9](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.4tmpg4fk9)

The dataset contains a table in excel format called Table S1 and a text document in word format called Appendix S1.

Table S1 provides values derived from Weighted Arithmetic Mean (MWAM) methodology (See Marcé-Nogué et al. 2016 for details). Each value is obtained from each of the 37 cranial bones analyzed of a Crocodylus niloticus analyzed under the different biomechanical loadings (Twist, Bilateral, Lateral).

Results are highlight in colour, from blue to red: blue means lower stress results in contrast to red colours as values are higher. Green and yellow are intermediate values. A colour scale appear at the right bottom of the excel file. 

Reference:

Marcé-Nogué, J., S. de Esteban-Trivigno, C. Escrig, L. Gil. 2016. Accounting for differences in element size and homogeneity when comparing Finite Element models: Armadillos as a case study. Palaeontol. Electron. 19, 1–22. ...