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- Talk
- 07/09/2020
- UK
Multiphasic Fibre Reinforced Cartilage FE Models Allow Accurate Through-thickness Swelling Predictions of Articular Cartilage
Description
The presentation, led by Kinga Czerbak, delves into the intricate relationship between cartilage structure and its function, highlighting the ongoing challenges in computational modeling of cartilage biomechanics. Czerbak emphasizes that although there is substantial research in this area, discrepancies remain between theoretical predictions and actual biomechanical responses of cartilage.
To address these discrepancies, she proposes the development of a fibril-reinforced cartilage model that accounts for internal inhomogeneities within the cartilage layers. This would facilitate a deeper understanding of the depth-dependent biomechanical responses of cartilage, especially under swelling conditions.
The research structure is twofold: first, an experimental investigation that utilized digital image correlation to assess through-thickness strains in porcine cartilage samples; and second, the creation of a fiber-reinforced finite element model to simulate and cross-validate these experimental results.
Experiments involved preparing cartilage samples from porcine humeruses and femurs, whereby standardized protocols for hydration were applied prior to assessment. Results indicated that strain behavior was consistent across samples, with evident high strain regions at the cartilage surface, which expanded towards deeper layers.
Subsequently, the model exhibited strong predictive capabilities, mirroring experimental strain distributions well, thereby validating the importance of structural inhomogeneities and collagen fibrils in cartilage simulations. Kinga concluded by emphasizing the predictive success of her model and noting future work would integrate histological analyses to correlate computational findings with structural characteristics of cartilage.