Subramani Adhitya V, Whitley Phillip E, Garimella Harsha T, Kraft Reuben H
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, USA.
Institute for Cyberscience, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, USA.
Comput Methods Biomech Biomed Engin. 2020 Aug;23(11):773-784. doi: 10.1080/10255842.2020.1764545. Epub 2020 May 13.
Neck pain is a major inhibitor affecting the performance of U.S. military personnel. Repetitive exposure to cyclic loading due to military activities over several years can lead to accumulation of fatigue damage in the cervical intervertebral disc annuli, leading to neck pain. We have developed a computational damage model based on continuum damage mechanics, to predict fatigue damage to cervical disc annuli over several years of exposure to military loading scenarios. By integrating this fatigue damage model with a finite element model of the cervical spine, we have overcome the underlying assumption of a uniform stress distribution in the annulus. The resulting element-wise damage prediction gives us insight into the location of damage initiation and pattern of fatigue damage progression in the cervical disc annulus.
颈部疼痛是影响美国军事人员表现的主要因素。数年来，军事活动导致的重复性循环负荷会使颈椎间盘纤维环累积疲劳损伤，进而引发颈部疼痛。我们基于连续损伤力学开发了一种计算损伤模型，以预测在数年军事负荷场景下颈椎间盘纤维环的疲劳损伤。通过将此疲劳损伤模型与颈椎有限元模型相结合，我们克服了纤维环应力分布均匀这一潜在假设。由此得到的逐单元损伤预测使我们能够深入了解颈椎间盘纤维环损伤起始位置及疲劳损伤进展模式。
