0000000000076903
AUTHOR
Olga Barrera
showing 6 related works from this author
Advanced microscopy analysis of the micro-nanoscale architecture of human menisci
2019
AbstractThe complex inhomogeneous architecture of the human meniscal tissue at the micro and nano scale in the absence of artefacts introduced by sample treatments has not yet been fully revealed. The knowledge of the internal structure organization is essential to understand the mechanical functionality of the meniscus and its relationship with the tissue’s complex structure. In this work, we investigated human meniscal tissue structure using up-to-date non-invasive imaging techniques, based on multiphoton fluorescence and quantitative second harmonic generation microscopy complemented with Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy measurements. Observations on 50 meniscal samples extract…
On the behavior of a three-dimensional fractional viscoelastic constitutive model
2016
In this paper a three-dimensional isotropic fractional viscoelastic model is examined. It is shown that if different time scales for the volumetric and deviatoric components are assumed, the Poisson ratio is time varying function; in particular viscoelastic Poisson ratio may be obtained both increasing and decreasing with time. Moreover, it is shown that, from a theoretical point of view, one-dimensional fractional constitutive laws for normal stress and strain components are not correct to fit uniaxial experimental test, unless the time scale of deviatoric and volumetric are equal. Finally, the model is proved to satisfy correspondence principles also for the viscoelastic Poisson’s ratio a…
Viscoelastic material models for more accurate polyethylene wear estimation
2018
Wear debris from ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene components used for joint replacement prostheses can cause significant clinical complications, and it is essential to be able to predict implant wear accurately in vitro to prevent unsafe implant designs continuing to clinical trials. The established method to predict wear is simulator testing, but the significant equipment costs, experimental time and equipment availability can be prohibitive. It is possible to predict implant wear using finite element methods, though those reported in the literature simplify the material behaviour of polyethylene and typically use linear or elastoplastic material models. Such models cannot represe…
Experimental Characterization of the Human Meniscal Tissue
2018
The meniscus plays a critical role in load transmission, stability and energy dissipation in the knee joint. Loss of the meniscus leads to joint degeneration and osteoarthritis. In a number of cases replacement of the resected meniscal tissue by a synthetic implant might avoid the articular cartilage degeneration. None of the available implants presents optimal biomechanics characteristic due to the fact the biomechanics functionality of the meniscus is not yet fully understood. Mimicking the native biomechanical characteristics of the menisci seems to be the key factor in meniscus replacement functioning. This is extremely challenging due to its complex inhomogeneous microstructure, the la…
The finite element implementation of 3D fractional viscoelastic constitutive models
2018
Abstract The aim of this paper is to present the implementation of 3D fractional viscoelastic constitutive theory presented in Alotta et al., 2016 [1]. Fractional viscoelastic models exactly reproduce the time dependent behaviour of real viscoelastic materials which exhibit a long “fading memory”. From an implementation point of view, this feature implies storing the stress/strain history throughout the simulations which may require a large amount of memory. We propose here a number of strategies to effectively limit the memory required. The form of the constitutive equations are summarized and the finite element implementation in a Newton-Raphson integration scheme is described in detail. …
A procedure for slicing and characterizing soft heterogeneous and irregular-shaped tissue
2020
Abstract This paper presents a slicing technique useful to prepare precise and repeatable samples from organs which are irregularly shaped and highly heterogeneous for mechanical testing and advanced microscopy observation. The suggested technique does not seem to influence the internal microstructure and it is employed here for testing specimens cut from different region of the meniscal tissue. Fast Fourier Transform analysis is used to quantify characteristic features of the microstructure (collagen fibers orientation, pore size) after slicing prior mechanical testing. Uniaxial (relaxation) tests are performed on dog-bone meniscal samples. Stress relaxation testing results on samples cut …