Finite element analysis of the meniscectomised tibio-femoral joint: implementation of advanced articular cartilage models

Abstract

The article presents advanced computer simulations aimed at the accurate modelling of human tibio-femoral joints in terms of anatomy, physiological loading, and constitutive behaviour of the tissues. The main objective of this research is to demonstrate the implications that the implementation of different articular cartilage models have on the prediction of the joint response. Several biphasic material constitutive laws are tested using a finite element package and compared to the monophasic linear elastic description, often still used to predict the instantaneous response of the cartilage in three-dimensional knee models. Thus, the importance of adequately capturing the contribution of the interstitial fluid support is proved using a simplified threedimensional model; subsequently, a biphasic poroviscoelastic non linear constitutive law is implemented to study the response of a patient specific tibio-femoral joint subjected to simplified walking cycles. The time evolution of stresses, pore pressure, contact areas and joint displacements are captured and compared with existing meniscectomised knee models. Contact pressures and areas obtained using the developed numerical simulations are in agreement with the existing experimental evidence for meniscectomized human knee joints. The results are then used to predict the most likely site for the origin of mechanical damage, i.e. the medial cartilage surface for the specific case analysed in the present contribution. Finally, future research directions are suggested.

Rapid, automated imaging of mouse articular cartilage by microCT for early detection of osteoarthritis and finite element modelling of joint mechanics

“…Menisci and other soft tissue elements were not included in the model. A coarser tetrahedral mesh (average element length (AEL) = 57 μm) was used for the peripheral regions away from the contact regions, while a high density tetrahedral mesh (AEL = 5.7 μm) was employed to discretise the contact areas (radius = 0.3 mm) between tibia and femur, to improve accuracy and resolution 34 [ Fig. 7 (A)–(C)].…”

Osteoarthritis year in review 2015: mechanics

“…Others investigators have worked to model OA-related processes computationally 36–38 . This is a challenging process, since loading events occur on the time scale of milliseconds-to-minutes while cartilage degradation takes place over years (hence, the need for multi-scale modeling).…”

What’s New in Orthopaedic Research

“…Computational studies are important for understanding how pathologic conditions such as incremental loss of knee meniscus affect cartilage contact stresses and for the design of new cartilage repair devices. These computational methods are also emerging as a tool for preoperative planning in joint realignment surgical procedures as a method to calculate which articular alignment would minimize contact stresses 51,52 . For any of these applications, the generation of an accurate model is directly dependent on the validity of the initial information used in the equations.…”