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3D Printed Tubular Scaffolds with Massively Tailorable Mechanical Behavior
Melt electrowriting (MEW) is a promising additive manufacturing technique for tissue scaffold biofabrication. Successful application of MEW scaffolds requires strictly controlled mechanical behavior. This requires scaffold geometry be optimized to match native tissue properties while simultaneously supporting cell attachment and proliferation. The objective of this work is to investigate how geometric properties can be exploited to massively tailor the mechanical behavior of tubular crosshatch scaffolds. An experimentally validated finite element (FE) model is developed and 441 scaffold geometries are investigated under tension, compression, bending, and radial loading. A range of pore areas (4–150 mm2) and pore angles (11°–134°) are investigated. It is found that scaffold mechanical behavior is massively tunable through the control of these simple geometric parameters. Across the ranges investigated, scaffold stiffness varies by a factor of 294× for tension, 204× for compression, 231× for bending, and 124× for radial loading. Further, it is discussed how these geometric parameters can be simultaneously tuned for different biomimetic material applications. This work provides critical insights into scaffold design to achieve biomimetic mechanical behavior and provides an important tool in the development of biomimetic tissue engineered constructs.
Signatures of slip in dewetting polymer films
Thin liquid polymer films on hydrophobic substrates are susceptable to rupture and formation of holes, which in turn initiate a complex dewetting process that eventually evolves into characteristic stationary droplet patterns. Experimental and theoretical studies suggest that the specific type of droplet pattern largely depends on the nature of the polymer-substrate boundary condition. To follow the morphological evolution numerically over long time scales and for the multiple length scales involved has so far been a major challenge. In this study a highly adaptive finite-element based numerical scheme is presented that allows for large-scale simulations to follow the evolution of the dewetting process deep into the nonlinear regime of the model equations, capturing the complex dynamics including shedding of droplets. In addition, the numerical results predict the previouly unknown shedding of satellite droplets during the destabilisation of liquid ridges, that form during the late stages of the dewetting process. While the formation of satellite droplets is well-known in the context of elongating fluid filaments and jets, we show here that for dewetting liquid ridges this property can be dramatically altered by the interfacial condition between polymer and substrate, namely slip.
Computational aspects of quasi-static crack propagation
The focus of this note lies on the numerical analysis of models describing the propagation of a single crack in a linearly elastic material. The evolution of the crack is modeled as a rate-independent process based on the Griffith criterion. We follow two different approaches for setting up mathematically well defined models: the global energetic approach and an approach based on a viscous regularization. We prove the convergence of solutions of fully discretized models (i.e. with respect to time and space) and derive relations between the discretization parameters (mesh size, time step size, viscosity parameter, crack increment) which guarantee the convergence of the schemes. Further, convergence rates are provided for the approximation of energy release rates by certain discrete energy release rates. Thereby we discuss both, models with self-contact conditions on the crack faces as well as models with pure Neumann conditions on the crack faces. The convergence proofs rely on regularity estimates for the elastic fields close to the crack tip and local and global finite element error estimates. Finally the theoretical results are illustrated with some numerical calculations.
Density of convex intersections and applications
In this paper, we address density properties of intersections of convex sets in several function spaces. Using the concept of Γ-convergence, it is shown in a general framework, how these density issues naturally arise from the regularization, discretization or dualization of constrained optimization problems and from perturbed variational inequalities. A variety of density results (and counterexamples) for pointwise constraints in Sobolev spaces are presented and the corresponding regularity requirements on the upper bound are identified. The results are further discussed in the context of finite-element discretizations of sets associated with convex constraints. Finally, two applications are provided, which include elasto-plasticity and image restoration problems.
Discretisation and error analysis for a mathematical model of milling processes
We investigate a mathematical model for milling where the cutting tool dynamics is considered together with an elastic workpiece model. Both are coupled by the cutting forces consisting of two dynamic components representing vibrations of the tool and of the workpiece, respectively, at the present and previous tooth periods. We develop a numerical solution algorithm and derive error estimates both for the semi-discrete and the fully discrete numerical scheme. Numerical computations in the last section support the analytically derived error estimates.
Quasistatic small-strain plasticity in the limit of vanishing hardening and its numerical approximation
The quasistatic rate-independent evolution of the Prager--Ziegler-type model of linearized plasticity with hardening is shown to converge to the rate-independent evolution of the Prandtl--Reuss elastic/perfectly plastic model. Based on the concept of energetic solutions we study the convergence of the solutions in the limit for hardening coefficients converging to 0 by using the abstract method of Gamma-convergence for rate-independent systems. An unconditionally convergent numerical scheme is devised and 2D and 3D numerical experiments are presented. A two-sided energy inequality is a posteriori verified to document experimental convergence rates.
Finite element error analysis for state-constrained optimal control of the Stokes equations
An optimal control problem for 2d and 3d Stokes equations is investigated with pointwise inequality constraints on the state and the control. The paper is concerened with the full discretization of the control problem allowing for different types of discretization of both the control and the state. For instance, piecewise linear and continuous approximations of the control are included in the present theory. Under certain assumptions on the $L^infty$-error of the finite element discretization of the state, error estimates for the control are derived which can be seen to be optimal since their order of convergence coincides with the one of the interpolation error. The assumptions of the $L^infty$-finite-element-error can be verified for different numerical settings. The theoretical results are confirmed by numerical examples.
A priori error analysis for state constrained boundary control problems : Part I: Control discretization
This is the first of two papers concerned with a state-constrained optimal control problems with boundary control, where the state constraints are only imposed in an interior subdomain. We apply the virtual control concept introduced in [20] to regularize the problem. The arising regularized optimal control problem is discretized by finite elements and linear and continuous ansatz functions for the boundary control. In the first part of the work, we investigate the errors induced by the regularization and the discretization of the boundary control. The second part deals with the error arising from discretization of the PDE. Since the state constraints only appear in an inner subdomain, the obtained order of convergence exceeds the known results in the field of a priori analysis for state-constrained problems
Multiscale modeling of palisade formation in gliobastoma multiforme
Palisades are characteristic tissue aberrations that arise in glioblastomas. Observation of palisades is considered as a clinical indicator of the transition from a noninvasive to an invasive tumour. In this article we propose a computational model to study the influence of genotypic and phenotypic heterogeneity in palisade formation. For this we produced three dimensional realistic simulations, based on a multiscale hybrid model, coupling the evolution of tumour cells and the oxygen diffusion in tissue, that depict the shape of palisades during its formation. Our results can be summarized as the following: (1) we show that cell heterogeneity is a crucial factor in palisade formation and tumour growth; (2) we present results that can explain the observed fact that recursive tumours are more malignant than primary tumours; and (3) the presented simulations can provide to clinicians and biologists for a better understanding of palisades 3D structure as well as glioblastomas growth dynamics.
Density of convex intersections and applications
In this paper we address density properties of intersections of convex sets in several function spaces. Using the concept of Gamma-convergence, it is shown in a general framework, how these density issues naturally arise from the regularization, discretization or dualization of constrained optimization problems and from perturbed variational inequalities. A variety of density results (and counterexamples) for pointwise constraints in Sobolev spaces are presented and the corresponding regularity requirements on the upper bound are identified. The results are further discussed in the context of finite element discretizations of sets associated to convex constraints. Finally, two applications are provided, which include elasto-plasticity and image restoration problems.