Singularity solution of Lanir's osmoelasticity: Verification of discontinuity simulations in soft tissues

Abstract

The literature characterizes cartilaginous tissues as osmoviscoelastic. Understanding the damage and failure of these tissues is essential for designing treatments. To determine tissue strength and local stresses, experimental studies-both clinical and animal-are generally supported by computational studies. Verification methods for computational studies of ionized porous media including cracks are hardly available. This study provides a method for verification and shows its performance. For this purpose, shear loading of a finite crack is addressed analytically and through a commercial finite element code. Impulsive shear loading by two-edge dislocation of a crack was considered in a 2D plane strain model for an ionized porous medium. To derive the analytical solution, the system of equation is decoupled by stress functions. The shear stress distribution at the plane of the crack is derived using Fourier and Laplace transformations. The analytical solution for the shear stress distribution is compared with computer simulations in ABAQUS version 6.4-5. Decoupling of the equations makes it possible to solve some boundary value problems in porous media taking chemical effects into account. The numerical calculations underestimate the shear stress at the crack-tips. Mesh refinement increases accuracy, but is still low in the neighborhood of the crack-tips. © 2010 The Author(s).