Department of Mechanical Engineering, Unit Catalogue 2008/09 |
ME40317 Soft tissue biomechanics |
| Credits: 6 |
| Level: Masters |
| Semester: 1 |
| Assessment: EX80CW20 |
| Requisites: |
| Before taking this unit you must take ME30030 |
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Aims: This course will review the experimental approaches and mathematical models that are used to explore the response to load of a range of biological soft tissues (e.g. articular cartilage, tendon, ligament, muscle and intervertebral discs). The strengths and limitations of modelling these various biological tissues with elastic, viscoelastic, poroelastic and strain energy based constitutive equations will be explored. Ethical and legal issues concerned with tissue experimentation will be outlined.
Learning Outcomes: On successful completion of this unit the student will have: * Demonstrated a basic knowledge of the application of continuum mechanics to the consideration of soft tissue under load. * Demonstrated a knowledge and understanding of the applicability and usefulness of elastic, viscoelastic, poroelastic and strain energy based constitutive equations when applied to soft tissue under load. Skills: Problem solving; numeracy: ethics; working independently. Content: Introduction to continuum mechanics. Composition and structure of soft tissue. Elastic (time-independent) behaviour of tissues: Stress an strain modelled by a Hookean constitutive equation; Homogenous/non homogenous; Isotropic/anisotropic; Relation between tissue constituents and continuum tensile, compressive and shear behaviour of various tissues. Viscoelastic (time-dependent) behaviour of tissues: Viscoelastic behaviour of single phase materials; Transient behaviour (creep and stress relaxation); Dynamic behaviour (storage and loss moduli); Lumped parameter models; Fitting viscoelastic models to experimental soft tissue behaviour. Poroelastic (time-dependent) behaviour of tissues: The role of fluid-matrix interactions; Darcy's law and hydraulic permeability; Continuity and conservation of momentum; Creep and stress relaxation behaviour in poroelastic materials modelling; Poroviscoelastic behaviour. Electromechanical and physiochemical properties of soft tissues: Role of electrical and chemical phenomena; Fluid convection of ions during tissue deformation; Electrostatic interactions between charged extra cellular matrix; Tissue swelling and Donnan osmotic pressure. |