Stiffness and strength of suture joints in nature
Name
Li-2011-Stiffness and strength of suture joints in nature.pdf
Size
576.94 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
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Author(s)
Li, Yaning
Ortiz, Christine
Boyce, Mary Cunningham
Date Issued
December 2011
Journal
Physical Review E
Publisher
American Physical Society (APS)
Citation
Li, Yaning, Christine Ortiz, and Mary Boyce. “Stiffness and Strength of Suture Joints in Nature.” Physical Review E 84.6 (2011): n. pag. Web. 2 Mar. 2012. © 2011 American Physical Society
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Suture joints are remarkable mechanical structures found throughout nature composed of compliant interlocking seams connecting stiffer components. This study investigates the underlying mechanisms and the role of geometry governing the unique mechanical behavior of suture joints. Analytical and numerical composite models are formulated for two suture geometries characterized by a single repeating wavelength (e.g., triangular and rectangular). Stiffness, strength, and local stress distributions are predicted to assess variations in deformation and failure mechanisms. A unique homogeneous stress field is observed throughout both the skeletal and interfacial components of the triangular geometry, thus providing advantages in load transmission, weight, stiffness, strength, energy absorption, and fatigue over the rectangular geometry. The results obtained have relevance to biomimetic design and optimization, suture growth and fusion, and evolutionary phenotype diversity.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.84.062904
