Center for Mechanical and Materials Technologies (CT2M), University of Minho Campus of Azurem, 4800-058 Guimaraes, Portugal.
Biomedical Engineering Department, Eindhoven University of Technology, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
J Biomech. 2014 Jan 3;47(1):297-301. doi: 10.1016/j.jbiomech.2013.10.014. Epub 2013 Oct 22.
Degenerative Disc Disease (DDD) is one of the largest health problems faced worldwide, based on lost working time and associated costs. By means of this motivation, this work aims to evaluate a biomimetic Finite Element (FE) model of the Intervertebral Disc (IVD). Recent studies have emphasized the importance of an accurate biomechanical modeling of the IVD, as it is a highly complex multiphasic medium. Poroelastic models of the disc are mostly implemented in commercial finite element packages with limited access to the algorithms. Therefore, a novel poroelastic formulation implemented on a home-developed open source FE solver is briefly addressed throughout this paper. The combination of this formulation with biphasic osmotic swelling behavior is also taken into account. Numerical simulations were devoted to the analysis of the non-degenerated human lumbar IVD time-dependent behavior. The results of the tests performed for creep assessment were inside the scope of the experimental data, with a remarkable improvement of the numerical accuracy when compared with previously published results obtained with ABAQUS(®). In brief, this in-development open-source FE solver was validated with literature experimental data and aims to be a valuable tool to study the IVD biomechanics and DDD mechanisms.
退变性椎间盘疾病（DDD）是全球面临的最大健康问题之一，主要表现在工作时间损失和相关成本上。基于这一动机，本工作旨在评估椎间盘的仿生有限元（FE）模型。最近的研究强调了对椎间盘进行准确生物力学建模的重要性，因为椎间盘是一种高度复杂的多相介质。多孔弹性模型的椎间盘大多在商业有限元软件包中实现，对算法的访问有限。因此，本文简要介绍了一种在自主开发的开源 FE 求解器上实现的新型多孔弹性公式。该公式与双相渗透肿胀行为的结合也被考虑在内。数值模拟致力于分析非退化人类腰椎椎间盘的时变行为。在进行蠕变评估的测试中，测试结果在实验数据范围内，与之前用 ABAQUS（®）获得的已发表结果相比，数值精度有显著提高。简而言之，这个正在开发中的开源 FE 求解器已经通过文献实验数据进行了验证，并旨在成为研究椎间盘生物力学和 DDD 机制的有价值的工具。
