Determination of benchmarking parameters for assessing the mechanical robustness of articular cartilage: a joint mathematical and experimental investigation. Osteoarthritis associated with the deterioration of the articular cartilage affects about 12% of Australian adults. This project will use an integrated approach combining novel mathematical modelling and an extensive experimental program to establish critical mechanical parameters, in particular, the fracture toughness of articular cartilag ....Determination of benchmarking parameters for assessing the mechanical robustness of articular cartilage: a joint mathematical and experimental investigation. Osteoarthritis associated with the deterioration of the articular cartilage affects about 12% of Australian adults. This project will use an integrated approach combining novel mathematical modelling and an extensive experimental program to establish critical mechanical parameters, in particular, the fracture toughness of articular cartilage and will incorporate the unique structure of the dissimilar layers in articular cartilage. It will be used to study how these resist the propagation of an initiated crack and will offer significant insight into the desirable fracture properties of any replacement material for articular cartilage and will provide a basis for assessing replacement biomaterials.Read moreRead less
Yield strength and plastic flow of heterogeneous materials: Designing optimal composites and porous materials. A major goal of materials science is to design materials with improved functionality at lower weight, cost and size. It is important to guide this expensive and time-consuming process with sophisticated computer modelling. In this project we aim to model how and why composite and porous materials fail when they are placed under stress. Our results will make materials design more efficie ....Yield strength and plastic flow of heterogeneous materials: Designing optimal composites and porous materials. A major goal of materials science is to design materials with improved functionality at lower weight, cost and size. It is important to guide this expensive and time-consuming process with sophisticated computer modelling. In this project we aim to model how and why composite and porous materials fail when they are placed under stress. Our results will make materials design more efficient by providing a valuable experimental interpretive tool and a theoretical map for material optimization. Our models will also provide crucial information needed for modelling the behavior of composites in applications.Read moreRead less