Modelling and analysis of behaviour of biomedical scaffolds

Since articular cartilage related diseases are an increasing issue and they are nowadays treated by invasive prosthesis implantations, there is a strong demand for new solutions such as those offered by scaffold engineering. This work deals with the characterization and modelling of polymeric fabrics for cartilage repair. Creep tests data at three different applied forces were successfully modelled both analytically, using viscoelastic models, and by finite element analysis which embraced the theory of poroelasticity. A linear correlation between the viscoelastic parameters brought to the definition of a time dependent effective modulus function of the applied force and based on a set of four material parameters, whereas a finite element parametric analysis lead to the estimation of the matrix intrinsic permeability. Finally the behaviour of the material in both creep and dynamic loading configurations was studied using the finite element method, starting from the results of the previous characterization for the setup of the simulations. The attention was mainly focused on the fluid related quantities pore pressure and velocity field because of their importance in transferring mechanical stimuli to cells eventually present in a further stage