Evaluation of the constitutive models of meniscus and their effect on the knee joint biomechanics during physiologically relevant loading
Year: 2019
Type: dissertation
Abstract: The meniscus is an integral part of the overall health of the knee joint.To evaluate medical procedures, finite element models can predict degenerative changes in the articular cartilage and meniscus.In those models, fibril reinforced poroelastic (FRPE) material has been implemented to consider a realistic response of the meniscus during static and dynamic loading.However, such advanced FRPE formulation demands a high computational capacity.It limits the application of the FRPE model on a biomechanical assessment of multiple subjects for clinical proposes.Hence, it is relevant to utilize a simpler material representation which can capture these complex characteristics within optimized implementation time to be applied in many subjects.The aim of this study was to investigate more simple constitutive representation of meniscus that produces a similar mechanical response in articular cartilage during walking.Thus, an orthotropic poroelastic (OTP) material was considered to represent the meniscus during numerical analysis of knee joint.The OTP constitutive parameters were optimized based on numerical comparisons with respect to FRPE material.Then, these adjusted OTP meniscus properties were implemented into a 3D computational knee joint model to evaluate the total reaction force, stress, strain, pore pressure and fibril strain on the tibial cartilage.Finally, these results were compared with knee joint model with FRPE meniscus.The biomechanical response exhibited on the articular cartilage for both meniscus models were similar during the gait.In conclusion, OTP meniscus model can mimic the effect produced by the FRPE meniscus model on the tibial articular cartilage, reducing the pre-processing time to generate subject-specific models.Hence, the OTP model can be applied in the finite element analysis of the knee joint in routine clinical practice.
Author: Tulashi Simkheada
Language: English
Subfield: Surgery
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3118503537