Experimental and finite element analysis of articular cartilage

In the clinical field, articular cartilage has an important role in performance of most joints in the human body. In the present study, articular cartilage was excised from the knee joint of a bovine and tested in a tensile testing machine. The data obtained from the test was used to calculate the material properties of the cartilage. The material properites obtained from the experimental work were validated against the published experimental results in the literature. As the values from the experiment were in satisfactory agreement with the published data, it was concluded that the test protocol used in the experiment provides reliable data. Next, the material properties were implemented in finite element model of C3-C4 of cervical spine to examine if the finite element analysis can provide an accurate prediction of the behavior of the cervical spine. The stress and displacement results of the finite element analysis were consistent with the reported data in the literature. The location and the amount of the maximum stresses were examined and compared with the failure point of the materials.