Numerical damage models using a structural approach: application in bones and ligaments

¹ Laboratoire de Mécanique et d'Acoustique, CNRS, équipe MMCB, 31 chemin J. Aiguier, 13402 Marseille, France
² Laboratoire de Biomécanique Appliquée, INRETS, Faculté de Médecine, boulevard P. Dramard, 13916 Marseille, France

Corresponding author: pithioux@lma.cnrs-mrs.fr

Received: 11 May 2001
Revised: 18 October 2001
Accepted: 25 October 2001
Published online: 15 January 2002

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to apply knowledge of structural properties to perform numerical simulations with models of bones and knee ligaments exposed to dynamic tensile loading leading to tissue damage. Compact bones and knee ligaments exhibit the same geometrical pattern in their different levels of structural hierarchy from the tropocollagen molecule to the fibre. Nevertheless, their mechanical behaviours differ considerably at the fibril level. These differences are due to the contribution of the joints in the microfibril-fibril-fibre assembly and to the mechanical properties of the structural components. Two finite element models of the fibrous bone and ligament structure were used to describe damage in terms of elastoplastic laws or joint decohesion processes.