Benjamin L. Wong^*, Won C. Bae^*, Kenneth R. Gratz^*, Robert L. Sah^∗,†

Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.5, No.3, pp. 197-206, 2008, DOI:10.3970/mcb.2008.005.197

Abstract During joint articulation, the biomechanical behavior of cartilage not only facilitates load-bearing and low-friction, but also provides regulatory cues to chondrocytes. Elucidation of cartilage kinematics under combined compression and shearing conditions clarifies these cues in health and disease. The objectives of this study were to elucidate the effects of lubricant, tissue degeneration, and stress relaxation duration on cartilage shear kinematics during articulation. Human osteochondral cores with normal and mildly degenerate surface structures were isolated. Paired blocks from each core were apposed, compressed, allowed to stress relax for 5 or 60 min, and shear tested with a micro-scale video microscopy system… More >

Lihai Zhang^*, Bruce S. Gardiner^*, David W. Smith^*, Peter Pivonka^*, Alan Grodzinsky^†

Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.5, No.2, pp. 133-154, 2008, DOI:10.3970/mcb.2008.005.133

Abstract Cartilage maintains its integrity in a hostile mechanical environment. This task is made more difficult because cartilage has no blood supply, and so nutrients and growth factors need to be transported greater distances than normal to reach cells several millimetres from the cartilage surface. The chondrocytes embedded within the extracellular matrix (ECM) are essential for maintaining the mechanical integrity of the ECM, through a balance of degradation and synthesis of collagen and proteoglycans. A chondrocyte senses various chemical and mechanical signals in its local microenvironment, responding by appropriate adaption of the local ECM. Clearly a 'systems understanding' of cartilage behaviour… More >

K. Y. Volokh^*, E. Y. S. Chao^†, M. Armand^‡

Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.4, No.2, pp. 67-74, 2007, DOI:10.3970/mcb.2007.004.067

Abstract Information about the stress distribution on contact surfaces of adjacent bones is indispensable for analysis of arthritis, bone fracture and remodeling. Numerical solution of the contact problem based on the classical approaches of solid mechanics is sophisticated and time-consuming. However, the solution can be essentially simplified on the following physical grounds. The bone contact surfaces are covered with a layer of articular cartilage, which is a soft tissue as compared to the hard bone. The latter allows ignoring the bone compliance in analysis of the contact problem, i.e. rigid bones are considered to interact through a compliant cartilage. Moreover, cartilage… More >

Morakot Likhitpanichkul¹, X. Edward Guo², Van C. Mow^1,3

Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.2, No.4, pp. 191-204, 2005, DOI:10.3970/mcb.2005.002.191

Abstract Thorough analyses of the mechano-electrochemical interaction between articular cartilage matrix and the chondrocytes are crucial to understanding of the signal transduction mechanisms that modulate the cell metabolic activities and biosynthesis. Attempts have been made to model the chondrocytes embedded in the collagen-proteoglycan extracellular matrix to determine the distribution of local stress-strain field, fluid pressure and the time-dependent deformation of the cell. To date, these models still have not taken into account a remarkable characteristic of the cartilage extracellular matrix given rise from organization of the collagen fiber architecture, now known as the tension-compression nonlinearity (TCN) of the tissue, as well… More >

Deng Li¹, Shuwei Chang^1,*

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.120, No.2, pp. 305-318, 2019, DOI:10.32604/cmes.2019.06475

Abstract Mechanical force plays a critical role in the remodeling and degradation of cartilage tissues. The cartilage tissue generates, absorbs, and transmits mechanical force, enabling specific biological processes in our body. A moderate intensity mechanical force is necessary for cartilage tissue remodeling and the adaptation of biomechanical properties, but a high intensity mechanical force can lead to pathological degradation of cartilage tissue. However, the molecular mechanism of cartilage degradation is still unclear. We use full atomistic simulations with SMD simulations to investigate whether the magnitude of mechanical force affects the unbinding pathway of the MMP8-Aggrecan_IGD complex. We find that when the… More >

J.D. Turner¹ , A. Alnaqeb¹, A. Bani Younes¹

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.111, No.3, pp. 257-268, 2016, DOI:10.3970/cmes.2016.111.257

Abstract A singularity-free perturbation solution is presented for inverting the Cartesian to Geodetic transformation. Conventional approaches for inverting the transformation use the natural ellipsoidal coordinates, this work explores the use of the satellite ground-track vector as the differential correction variable. The geodetic latitude is recovered by well-known elementary means. A high-accuracy highperformance 3D vector-valued continued fraction iteration is constructed. Rapid convergence is achieved because the starting guess for the ground-track vector provides a maximum error of 30 m for the satellite height above the Earth's surface, throughout the LEO-GEO range of applications. As a result, a single iteration of the continued… More >

A.V. Ekhlakov^1,2, O.M. Khay^1,3, Ch. Zhang¹, X.W. Gao⁴, J. Sladek⁵, V. Sladek⁵

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.92, No.6, pp. 595-614, 2013, DOI:10.3970/cmes.2013.092.595

Abstract A boundary-domain integral equation method is applied to the transient thermoelastic crack analysis in functionally graded materials. Fundamental solutions for homogeneous, isotropic and linear elastic materials are used to derive the boundary-domain integral equations. The radial integration method, the Cartesian transformation method and the cell-integration method are applied for the evaluation of the arising domain-integrals. Numerical results for dynamic stress intensity factors obtained by the three approaches are presented, compared and discussed to show the accuracy and the efficiency of the domain-integral evaluation techniques. More >

D.-A. An-Vo¹, C.-D. Tran¹, N. Mai-Duy¹, T. Tran-Cong¹

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.89, No.4, pp. 303-359, 2012, DOI:10.3970/cmes.2012.089.303

Abstract Many important engineering problems have multiple-scale solutions. Thermal conductivity of composite materials, flow in porous media, and turbulent transport in high Reynolds number flows are examples of this type. Direct numerical simulations for these problems typically require extremely large amounts of CPU time and computer memory, which may be too expensive or impossible on the present supercomputers. In this paper, we develop a high order computational method, based on multiscale basis function approach and integrated radialbasis- function (IRBF) approximant, for the solution of multiscale elliptic problems with reduced computational cost. Unlike other methods based on multiscale basis function approach, sets… More >

Yongsheng An¹, Xiaodong Wu¹, Deli Gao¹

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.89, No.2, pp. 123-142, 2012, DOI:10.3970/cmes.2012.089.123

Abstract The accuracy of numerical simulation of a two-phase (oil and water) flow in a fractured horizontal well depends greatly upon the types of grids used in the computation. Cartesian grids have been widely used in recent years, but they have some disadvantages in describing complex structural wells, such as fractured horizontal wells. For example, Cartesian grids are not efficient in describing the main wellbores and the fractures of fractured horizontal wells, and the results can frequently suffer from grid orientation effects, even though a grid-refinement is often introduced to enhance the adaptability of a Cartesian grid. The PEBI (Perpendicular Bisector)… More >

Taffetani M.¹, Bertarelli E.^1,2, Gottardi R.^3,4, Raiteri R.⁵, Vena P.^1,2

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.87, No.5, pp. 433-460, 2012, DOI:10.3970/cmes.2012.087.433

Abstract Dynamic nanoindentation is a novel nanomechanical testing that is being increasingly used to characterize the frequency response of viscoelastic materials and of soft hydrated biological tissues at the micrometric and nanometric length scales. This technique is able to provide more information than those obtained by simple indentation; however, its interpretation is still an open issue for complex materials such as the case of anisotropic biological tissues that generally have a high water content. This work presents a numerical model to characterize the frequency response of poro-elastic tissues subjected to harmonic indentation loading with particular regard to the effect of geometrical… More >