Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Crack propagation in articular cartilage under cyclic loading using cohesive finite element modeling

Orozco, Gustavo A. LU ; Tanska, Petri ; Gustafsson, Anna LU ; Korhonen, Rami K. and Isaksson, Hanna LU orcid (2022) In Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials 131.
Abstract
Severe joint injuries often involve cartilage defects that propagate after mechanical loading. The propagation of these lesions may contribute to the development of post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA). However, the mechanisms behind their propagation remain unknown. Currently, no numerical predictive methods exist for estimating crack propagation in cartilage under cyclic loading, yet they would provide essential insights into crack growth in injured tissue after trauma. Here, we present a numerical approach to estimate crack propagation in articular cartilage under cyclic loading using a cohesive damage model. Four different material models for cartilage (hyperelastic, poro-hyperelastic, poro-hyper-viscoelastic, and fibril-reinforced... (More)
Severe joint injuries often involve cartilage defects that propagate after mechanical loading. The propagation of these lesions may contribute to the development of post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA). However, the mechanisms behind their propagation remain unknown. Currently, no numerical predictive methods exist for estimating crack propagation in cartilage under cyclic loading, yet they would provide essential insights into crack growth in injured tissue after trauma. Here, we present a numerical approach to estimate crack propagation in articular cartilage under cyclic loading using a cohesive damage model. Four different material models for cartilage (hyperelastic, poro-hyperelastic, poro-hyper-viscoelastic, and fibril-reinforced poro-hyperelastic (FRPHE) with different collagen orientations) were implemented. Our numerical cohesive damage model was able to replicate the experimental crack length reported in the literature, showing greater crack length with an increasing number of loading cycles. Damage initiation stress (4.35–4.73 MPa) and fracture energy (0.97–1.55 N/mm) values obtained for the poro-hyperelastic, poro-hyper-viscoelastic, and parallel-FRPHE models were within the range of what has been reported previously. The crack growth predictions obtained by the FRPHE models showed the influence of anisotropy of the fibrillar matrix on the cartilage response. Our results indicate that our cohesive damage model could potentially be used to estimate the adverse conditions in injured soft tissue such as osteochondral lesions, menisci tears, or partial ligament ruptures under (ab)normal biomechanical scenarios. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Cohesive zone model, Fracture energy, Articular cartilage, Cyclic loading, Damage progression
in
Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials
volume
131
article number
105227
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85129304402
  • pmid:35477071
ISSN
1751-6161
DOI
10.1016/j.jmbbm.2022.105227
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
8a655f81-65c6-41a0-b584-9557f0fed7d5
alternative location
https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1751616122001436
date added to LUP
2022-04-22 14:31:20
date last changed
2023-10-23 14:00:32
@article{8a655f81-65c6-41a0-b584-9557f0fed7d5,
  abstract     = {{Severe joint injuries often involve cartilage defects that propagate after mechanical loading. The propagation of these lesions may contribute to the development of post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA). However, the mechanisms behind their propagation remain unknown. Currently, no numerical predictive methods exist for estimating crack propagation in cartilage under cyclic loading, yet they would provide essential insights into crack growth in injured tissue after trauma. Here, we present a numerical approach to estimate crack propagation in articular cartilage under cyclic loading using a cohesive damage model. Four different material models for cartilage (hyperelastic, poro-hyperelastic, poro-hyper-viscoelastic, and fibril-reinforced poro-hyperelastic (FRPHE) with different collagen orientations) were implemented. Our numerical cohesive damage model was able to replicate the experimental crack length reported in the literature, showing greater crack length with an increasing number of loading cycles. Damage initiation stress (4.35–4.73 MPa) and fracture energy (0.97–1.55 N/mm) values obtained for the poro-hyperelastic, poro-hyper-viscoelastic, and parallel-FRPHE models were within the range of what has been reported previously. The crack growth predictions obtained by the FRPHE models showed the influence of anisotropy of the fibrillar matrix on the cartilage response. Our results indicate that our cohesive damage model could potentially be used to estimate the adverse conditions in injured soft tissue such as osteochondral lesions, menisci tears, or partial ligament ruptures under (ab)normal biomechanical scenarios.}},
  author       = {{Orozco, Gustavo A. and Tanska, Petri and Gustafsson, Anna and Korhonen, Rami K. and Isaksson, Hanna}},
  issn         = {{1751-6161}},
  keywords     = {{Cohesive zone model; Fracture energy; Articular cartilage; Cyclic loading; Damage progression}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{04}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials}},
  title        = {{Crack propagation in articular cartilage under cyclic loading using cohesive finite element modeling}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmbbm.2022.105227}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.jmbbm.2022.105227}},
  volume       = {{131}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}