arXiv subjects

J. L. Alves

Publications and source records attributed to J. L. Alves.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2016

A novel computational modelling to describe the anisotropic, remodelling and reorientation behaviour of collagen fibrres in articular cartilage

In articular cartilage the orientation of collagen fibres is not uniform, varying mostly with the depth on the tissue. Besides, the biomechanical response of each layer of the articular cartilage differs from the neighbouring ones, evolving through thickness as a function of the distribution, density and orientation of the collagen fibres. Based on a finite element implementation, a new continuum formulation is proposed to describe the remodelling and reorientation of the collagen fibres under arbitrary mechanical loads: the cartilaginous tissue is modelled based on a hyperelastic formulation, being the ground isotropic matrix described by a neo-Hookean law and the fibrillar anisotropic part modelled by a new anisotropic formulation introduced for the first time in the present work, in which both reorientation and remodelling are taken into account. To characterize the orientation of fibres, a structure tensor is defined to represent the expected distribution and orientation of fibres around a reference direction. The isotropic and anisotropic constitutive parameters were determined by the good validation of the numerical models with the experimental data available from the literature. Considering the effect of realistic collagen fibre reorientation in the cartilage tissue, the remodelling algorithm associated with a distribution of fibres model showed accurate results with few numerical calculations.

physics.bio-ph↗

arXiv2015

Unusual plastic deformation and damage features in Titanium: experimental tests and constitutive modeling

In this paper, we present an experimental study on plastic deformation and damage of polycrystalline pure Ti, as well as modeling of the observed behavior. From the mechanical characterization data, it can be concluded that the material displays anisotropy and tension-compression asymmetry. As concerns damage, the X-ray tomography measurements conducted reveal that damage distribution and evolution in this HCP Ti material is markedly different than in a typical FCC material such as copper. Stewart and Cazacu (2011) anisotropic elastic/plastic damage model is used to describe the behavior. All material parameters involved in this model have a clear physical significance, being related to plastic properties, and are determined based on very few simple mechanical tests. It is shown that this model predicts correctly the anisotropy in plastic deformation, and its strong influence on damage distribution and damage accumulation in Ti. Specifically, for a smooth axisymmetric specimen subject to uniaxial tension, damage initiates at the center of the specimen and is diffuse; the level of damage close to failure is very low. On the other hand, for a notched specimen subject to the same loading, the model predicts that damage initiates at the outer surface of the specimen, and further grows from the outer surface to the center of the specimen, which corroborates with the in-situ tomography data.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

A new Level-set based Protocol for Accurate Bone Segmentation from CT Imaging

In this work it is proposed a medical image segmentation pipeline for accurate bone segmentation from CT imaging. It is a two-step methodology, with a pre-segmentation step and a segmentation refinement step. First, the user performs a rough segmenting of the desired region of interest. Next, a fully automatic refinement step is applied to the pre-segmented data. The automatic segmentation refinement is composed by several sub-stpng, namely image deconvolution, image cropping and interpolation. The user-defined pre-segmentation is then refined over the deconvolved, cropped, and up-sampled version of the image. The algorithm is applied in the segmentation of CT images of a composite femur bone, reconstructed with different reconstruction protocols. Segmentation outcomes are validated against a gold standard model obtained with coordinate measuring machine Nikon Metris LK V20 with a digital line scanner LC60-D that guarantees an accuracy of 28 $μm$. High sub-pixel accuracy models were obtained for all tested Datasets. The algorithm is able to produce high quality segmentation of the composite femur regardless of the surface meshing strategy used.

physics.med-ph↗

arXiv2014

Micromechanical study of the dilatational response of porous solids with pressure-insensitive matrix displaying tension-compression asymmetry

In this paper, the dilatational response of porous solids with pressure-insensitive matrix displaying strength differential (SD) effects is investigated. To this end, micromechanical finite-element analyses of three-dimensional unit cells are carried out. The matrix behavior is governed by the isotropic form of Cazacu et al. (2006) criterion that accounts for SD effects through a parameter k. Simulation results are presented for axisymmetric tensile loadings corresponding to fixed values of the stress triaxiality for the two possible values of the Lode parameter, LP. For moderate and high stress triaxialities, it is shown that for materials for which the matrix tensile strength is larger than its compressive strength (k > 0), under tensile loadings corresponding at LP=1 the void growth rate is much faster than in the case of tensile loadings at LP=-1. The opposite holds true for materials with matrix tensile strength lower than its compressive strength (k< 0). This drastic difference in porosity evolution is explained by the distribution of the local plastic strain and stresses, which are markedly different than in a von Mises material (i.e. no SD effects of the matrix).

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗