Quasi-linear viscoelastic characterization of human hip ligaments.

摘要

The object of this study was to develop a quasi-linear viscoelastic model for the iliofemoral and ischiofemoral hip ligaments. In order to accomplish this, a total of 56 axial tension tests were performed on 8 bone-ligament-bone specimens prepared from 4 fresh frozen male cadavers. Each specimen went through a battery of 7 tests including a series of step-and-hold tests and load-and-unload ramp tests. The bone-ligament-bone specimens were situated so that the load from a servo-hydraulic Material Testing System would be applied on the long axis of each ligament. The reduced relaxation data was fit to a two exponential damping function while the instantaneous elastic response was fit to a power-law function. These two constituents were then combined to create a single constitutive equation for each ligament. The quasi-linear viscoelastic model presented in this study can be used to improve the biofidelity of computational models of the human hip.