BACKGROUND In the internal fixation of fractured bone by means of bone-plates fastened to the bone on its tensile surface, an on-going concern has been the excessive stress-shielding of the bone by the excessively-stiff stainless-steel plate. The compressive stress-shielding at the fracture-interface immediately after fracture-fixation delays callus formation and bone healing. Likewise, the ten...

The predictability of masonry arch bridges and their behaviour is widely considered doubtful due to the lack of knowledge about the conditions of a given masonry arch bridge. The assessment methods for masonry arch bridges are MEXE, ARCHIE, RING and Frame Analysis Method. The material properties of the masonry and fill material are extremely difficult to determine accurately. Consequently, it i...

Stresses developed within flesh in contact with a cushion are examined analytically. Compressive, tensile, and shear stresses within flesh in proximity to a bone are given as a function of cushion stiffness (major parameter) and the overall Poisson's ratio of flesh (minor parameter). It is shown that an individual already sitting on a soft cushion receives relatively minor benefit when a still ...

INTRODUCTION A strong positive correlation between the apparent ultimate strength and stiffness of bone tissue has been observed for cortical bone in tension and low-density cancellous bone in compression [1]. For practical purposes, the existence of a relationship between strength and stiffness is significant in that bone strength can be predicted using non-invasive stiffness measurements. Fro...

In this study, conventional restorative glass ionomer cement (GIC) was modified by embedding it with mechanically processed cellulose fibers. Two concentrations of fibers were weighed and agglutinated into the GIC during manipulation, yielding Experimental Groups 2 (G2; 3.62 wt% of fibers) and 3 (G3; 7.24 wt% of fibers), which were compared against a control group containing no fibers (G1). The...

Previous work by the authors [1, 2] investigated the influence of fibre fracture, due to impact, on tensile stiffness. The work presented in this paper extends this study by exploring the compressive stiffness reduction. The extent of fibre fracture, fibre deformation and matrix crushing all have a significant role in defining this stiffness reduction over the pristine material. This data will ...

Tensegrity is a light weight deployable structure that is composed of compressive and tensile members. However, the compressive members, which are made of common metallic structural materials, are not mass-efficient. In this paper, we replace the compressive member with “self-similar” tensegrity structure that has same strength but less mass. We start with a non-tensegrity structure called C4T ...

The functional effects of bone and suture stiffness were considered here using finite element models representing three different theoretical phenotypes of an Alligator mississippiensis mandible. The models were loaded using force estimates derived from muscle architecture in dissected specimens, constrained at the 18th and 19th teeth in the upper jaw and 19th tooth of the lower jaw, as well as...

Increasing tensile properties and collagen content is a recognized need in articular cartilage tissue engineering. This study tested the hypothesis that multiple applications of chondroitinase ABC (C-ABC), a glycosaminoglycan (GAG) degrading enzyme, could increase construct tensile properties in a scaffold-less approach for articular cartilage tissue engineering. Developing constructs were trea...

One of the important issues in the study of steel frames is to find a suitable formulation for semi-rigid connections. In this paper, the explicit stiffness matrix for a two-dimensional beam-column element having end-flexibilities is derived. The effects of the lateral uniformly distributed load on the deflection are considered. Both tensile and compressive axial loads are also taken into accou...