A Review of the Combination of Experimental Measurements and Fibril-Reinforced Modeling for Investigation of Articular Cartilage and Chondrocyte Response to Loading
Figure 5
Convergence test for finite element mesh. As the number of elements is increased in an inhomogeneous finite element model, the simulation outcome begins to converge towards true value (i.e., case with infinite number of elements). In this case, the finite element mesh was homogenous and the number of elements was systematically increased to observe convergence in the simulated peak reaction force during unconfined compression experiment (a). To optimize the performance of the model, an appropriate amount of elements is required in the model to obtain reliable results (within 5% error from an excessive amount of elements). If an excessive number of elements are used, the computational cost (CPU time) increases, and the model performance suffers. In this demonstration, the model used was a fibril reinforced poroviscoelastic model [17, 18]. In the model, collagen fibrils are implemented with a Benninghoff-type arcade structure. Therefore, to observe the effect of the bending of the fibrils, it is essential to have a sufficient amount of elements. Two finite element meshes with the fibril orientations are shown (b).
