Abstract
Abstract
Objectives
A fibril reinforced multiphasic cartilage model was developed to improve the understanding of the depth-dependent cartilage internal structure and its through thickness biomechanical response. The heterogeneous model of cartilage was validated against full-field strain measurement obtained via Digital Image Correlation (DIC) during free swelling experiments.
Methods
Hemi-cylindrical cartilage cores of 5mm diameter were obtained from porcine femoral condyles and humeral heads. The full field behaviour of these samples was monitored using DIC during an osmotic free swelling experiment performed following a standardised protocol [1]. Computational models were created in FEBio (version 2.8, febio.org). The cartilage, submerged in saline solution was represented by a 1×1mm cube [2] with geometry and constrains set up to mimic the experimental conditions. Cartilage was modelled as a multiphasic material represented by one inhomogeneous layer with depth-dependent Young's modulus [3], zonally varied water content and zonally oriented collagen fibrils [4]. Experimental and predicted strain maps were compared to each other both qualitatively and quantitatively.
Results
The numerical strain map showed high strain localisation close to the cartilage surface, with strain in this region reaching 40% and 12% for femoral and humeral samples respectively, this finding was confirmed in our experimental results. Strain magnitude gradually decreased with depth, reaching near-zero at around 200μm. This behaviour also matched experimental observations.
Conclusions
Both sets of computational strain results exhibited very good agreement with experimental data, both in terms of cartilage through-thickness swelling behaviour and strain magnitude. Our results show the importance of including cartilage structural inhomogeneities and inclusions of collagen fibrils when simulating through-thickness cartilage swelling. These findings highlight the crucial role of collagen fibrils on both tissue solute transport properties as well as the overall biomechanical response of cartilage.
Declaration of Interest
(b) declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research reported:I declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research project.
