The Time and History-Dependent Viscoelastic Properties of the Canine Medial Collateral Ligament

1981 ◽  
Vol 103 (4) ◽  
pp. 293-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. L.-Y. Woo ◽  
M. A. Gomez ◽  
W. H. Akeson

The viscoelastic properties of the canine medial collateral ligament (MCL) were investigated. Stress-strain relationships at different strain rates, long-term stress relaxation and cyclic stress-strain curves of the MCL were obtained experimentally using a bone-MCL-bone preparation. The experimental data were used in conjunction with the quasi-linear viscoelastic theory as proposed by Fung [15] to characterize the reduced relaxation function, G(t) and elastic response σe (ε) of this tissue. It was found that the quasi-linear viscoelastic theory can adequately describe the time and history-dependent rheological properties of the canine medial collateral ligament.

1999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodore D. Clineff ◽  
Richard E. Debski ◽  
Sven U. Scheffler ◽  
John D. Withrow ◽  
Savio L.-Y. Woo

Abstract The time and history dependent viscoelastic properties have been determined for the normal medial collateral ligament (MCL) of canine (Woo, 1981), porcine anterior cruciate ligament (Kwan, 1993), and human patellar tendon in a cadaver model (Johnson, 1994). The objective of this study was to use a combined experimental and analytical approach to quantify the viscoelastic properties of the intact MCL in a goat model. A thorough understanding of the viscoelastic properties at low strain levels is necessary to future studies of the healing MCL. The quasi-linear viscoelastic theory (QLV) (Fung, 1972) was used to characterize the properties of the MCL during stress relaxation.


2004 ◽  
Vol 126 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven D. Abramowitch ◽  
Savio L.-Y. Woo

The quasi-linear viscoelastic (QLV) theory proposed by Fung (1972) has been frequently used to model the nonlinear time- and history-dependent viscoelastic behavior of many soft tissues. It is common to use five constants to describe the instantaneous elastic response (constants A and B) and reduced relaxation function (constants C, τ1, and τ2) on experiments with finite ramp times followed by stress relaxation to equilibrium. However, a limitation is that the theory is based on a step change in strain which is not possible to perform experimentally. Accounting for this limitation may result in regression algorithms that converge poorly and yield nonunique solutions with highly variable constants, especially for long ramp times (Kwan et al. 1993). The goal of the present study was to introduce an improved approach to obtain the constants for QLV theory that converges to a unique solution with minimal variability. Six goat femur-medial collateral ligament-tibia complexes were subjected to a uniaxial tension test (ramp time of 18.4 s) followed by one hour of stress relaxation. The convoluted QLV constitutive equation was simultaneously curve-fit to the ramping and relaxation portions of the data r2>0.99. Confidence intervals of the constants were generated from a bootstrapping analysis and revealed that constants were distributed within 1% of their median values. For validation, the determined constants were used to predict peak stresses from a separate cyclic stress relaxation test with averaged errors across all specimens measuring less than 6.3±6.0% of the experimental values. For comparison, an analysis that assumed an instantaneous ramp time was also performed and the constants obtained for the two approaches were compared. Significant differences were observed for constants B, C, τ1, and τ2, with τ1 differing by an order of magnitude. By taking into account the ramping phase of the experiment, the approach allows for viscoelastic properties to be determined independent of the strain rate applied. Thus, the results obtained from different laboratories and from different tissues may be compared.


1980 ◽  
Vol 102 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. L.-Y. Woo ◽  
B. R. Simon ◽  
S. C. Kuei ◽  
W. H. Akeson

A combined experimental and analytical approach was used to determine the history-dependent viscoelastic properties of normal articular cartilage in tension. Specimens along the surface split line direction, taken from the middle zone of articular cartilage were subjected to relaxation and cyclic tests. A quasi-linear viscoelastic theory proposed by Fung [31] was used in combination with the experimental results to determine the nonlinear viscoelastic properties and the elastic stress-strain relationship of normal articular cartilage.


Author(s):  
S. D. Abramowitch ◽  
T. D. Clineff ◽  
R. E. Debski ◽  
S. L.-Y. Woo

The medial collateral ligament (MCL) is one of the most frequently injured ligaments in the knee. Although it can heal spontaneously after rupture, laboratory studies have shown that the mechanical properties of the healing MCL remain inferior to normal for up to two years after injury (1). Additionally, the healing MCL has been shown to display increased amounts of stress relaxation and creep (2). In order to more completely describe the viscoelastic properties of healing ligaments, we propose to use the Quasi-Linear Viscoelastic (QLV) theory formulated by Fung (1972). This theory has been used to successfully describe the viscoelastic properties of many soft-tissues (3). Recently, our research center has developed an improved approach to determine the constants describing the QLV theory based on data collected from a stress relaxation experiment that utilizes a slow strain rate during loading. This approach allows for experimental errors that commonly result from fast strain rates to be avoided (ex. overshoot) (4). Therefore, the objective of this study were to use this new approach to determine the constants describing the quasi-linear viscoelastic behavior of the healing goat MCL at 12 weeks after injury.


2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (01) ◽  
pp. 1250009 ◽  
Author(s):  
WILLIAM R. BARONE ◽  
ANDREW J. FEOLA ◽  
PAMELA A. MOALLI ◽  
STEVEN D. ABRAMOWITCH

The objective of this study was to elucidate the normal functional adaptations of the cervix in pregnancy. Utilizing a Long-Evans rodent model, the cervix was divided into distal and proximal portions for virgin, mid-pregnant, and four weeks postpartum animals. The quasi-linear viscoelastic theory describes the elastic and viscous behavior of the cervix. A hydroxyproline assay was used to measure collagen content. The nonlinearity of the elastic response significantly increased throughout the entire cervix during pregnancy when compared to virgin samples (p < 0.05) and was similar to virgin samples postpartum. All viscous behavior, except for the short-term relaxation of the proximal cervix, significantly differed for pregnant specimens (p < 0.05) and remained similar to pregnant samples postpartum. Collagen content was found to increase by mid-pregnancy only in the proximal cervix when compared to virgin. Distal and proximal portions, however, were found to differ in collagen content at all time points (p < 0.05). This study finds that the cervix becomes elastically stiffer with increasing strain and exhibits increased viscous behavior during pregnancy, with incomplete recovery postpartum. These alterations allow for quick dissipation of loads, and are likely related to altered matrix organization and porosity reported by others.


1987 ◽  
Vol 109 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Savio L.-Y. Woo ◽  
Thay Q. Lee ◽  
Mark A. Gomez ◽  
Shigeru Sato ◽  
Frederic P. Field

The temperature dependent tensile behavior of ligament was investigated from 2°C to 37°C. Nondestructive cyclic tests were performed on ten canine femur-medial collateral ligament-tibia (FMT) complexes at sequential temperatures of 22°C, 22°C, 27°C, 32°C, 37°C, and again at 22°C. The samples were rested at zero load between tests for sufficient time periods to allow for full recovery from the ligament’s time and history dependent viscoelastic properties. Ten additional FMT complexes were sequentially tested in a similar fashion, but at temperatures of 22°C, 22°C, 2°C, 6°C, 14°C, and 22°C. All canine FMT complexes showed temperature dependent viscoelastic properties: the measured area of hysteresis decreased with increasing temperature; the cyclic load relaxation behavior plateaued to a higher value at lower temperatures; and the tensile load at a predetermined ligament substance strain level had an inversely proportional relationship with respect to temperature.


2003 ◽  
Vol 125 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Crawford Downs ◽  
J-K. Francis Suh ◽  
Kevin A. Thomas ◽  
Anthony J. Bellezza ◽  
Claude F. Burgoyne ◽  
...  

In this report we characterize the viscoelastic material properties of peripapillary sclera from the four quadrants surrounding the optic nerve head in both rabbit and monkey eyes. Scleral tensile specimens harvested from each quadrant were subjected to uniaxial stress relaxation and tensile ramp to failure tests. Linear viscoelastic theory, coupled with a spectral reduced relaxation function, was employed to characterize the viscoelastic properties of the tissues. We detected no differences in the stress-strain curves of specimens from the four quadrants surrounding the optic nerve head (ONH) below a strain of 4 percent in either the rabbit or monkey. While the peripapillary sclera from monkey eyes is significantly stiffer (both instantaneously and in equilibrium) and relaxes more slowly than that from rabbits, we detected no differences in the viscoelastic material properties (tested at strains of 0–1 percent) of sclera from the four quadrants surrounding the ONH within either species group.


Author(s):  
Daniel K. Moon ◽  
Mary T. Gabriel ◽  
Steven D. Abramowitch ◽  
Yoshiyuki Takakura ◽  
Savio L.-Y. Woo

Biomechanical tests of soft tissues, especially those from human cadavers, are generally done after a period of postmortem storage by freezing. In some instances, specimen preparation and testing can be complex and can take place over several days, thus necessitating an additional period of frozen storage before biomechanical evaluation is completed. Studies have been done in the past, which investigated the effects of postmortem freezing on the tensile properties of ligament-bone complexes (Viidik and Lewin 1966; Noyes and Grood 1976; Dorlot 1980; Barad 1982; Nikolaou 1986; Woo, Orlando et al. 1986). It has been shown in our laboratory that careful postmortem freezing for up to three months did not significantly change the mechanical properties of the ligament midsubstance and the cyclic stress relaxation behavior and the structural properties of the ligament-bone complex, but the area of hysteresis was significantly reduced in the stored specimens for the first few cycles of cyclic stress relaxation (Woo, Orlando et al. 1986). Hence, it is important to ensure that an additional freezing and thawing cycle will not further change the tensile properties of these tissues. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of freezing and thawing twice at 20°C on the structural and viscoelastic properties of femur-medial collateral ligament-tibia complex (FMTC) in a rabbit model.


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