Modeling Tunable Fracture in Hydrogel Shell Structures for Biomedical Applications
Hydrogels are nowadays widely used in various biomedical applications, and show great potential for the making of devices such as biosensors, drug- delivery vectors, carriers, or matrices for cell cultures in tissue engineering, etc. In these applications, due to the irregular complex surface of the...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-08-01
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| Series: | Gels |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2310-2861/8/8/515 |
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| author | Gang Zhang Hai Qiu Khalil I. Elkhodary Shan Tang Dan Peng |
| author_facet | Gang Zhang Hai Qiu Khalil I. Elkhodary Shan Tang Dan Peng |
| author_sort | Gang Zhang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Hydrogels are nowadays widely used in various biomedical applications, and show great potential for the making of devices such as biosensors, drug- delivery vectors, carriers, or matrices for cell cultures in tissue engineering, etc. In these applications, due to the irregular complex surface of the human body or its organs/structures, the devices are often designed with a small thickness, and are required to be flexible when attached to biological surfaces. The devices will deform as driven by human motion and under external loading. In terms of mechanical modeling, most of these devices can be abstracted as shells. In this paper, we propose a mixed graph-finite element method (FEM) phase field approach to model the fracture of curved shells composed of hydrogels, for biomedical applications. We present herein examples for the fracture of a wearable biosensor, a membrane-coated drug, and a matrix for a cell culture, each made of a hydrogel. Used in combination with experimental material testing, our method opens a new pathway to the efficient modeling of fracture in biomedical devices with surfaces of arbitrary curvature, helping in the design of devices with tunable fracture properties. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T04:25:15Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c9c1cbffaab547fda8802e86520e9cb0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2310-2861 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T04:25:15Z |
| publishDate | 2022-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Gels |
| spelling | doaj.art-c9c1cbffaab547fda8802e86520e9cb02023-12-03T13:42:20ZengMDPI AGGels2310-28612022-08-018851510.3390/gels8080515Modeling Tunable Fracture in Hydrogel Shell Structures for Biomedical ApplicationsGang Zhang0Hai Qiu1Khalil I. Elkhodary2Shan Tang3Dan Peng4Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Equipment Intensification and Intrinsic Safety, Wuhan 430205, ChinaSchool of Mechanical Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang 212003, ChinaThe Department of Mechanical Engineering, The American University in Cairo, New Cairo 11835, EgyptDepartment of Engineering Mechanics, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, ChinaDepartment of Neurology, The Second Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian 116023, ChinaHydrogels are nowadays widely used in various biomedical applications, and show great potential for the making of devices such as biosensors, drug- delivery vectors, carriers, or matrices for cell cultures in tissue engineering, etc. In these applications, due to the irregular complex surface of the human body or its organs/structures, the devices are often designed with a small thickness, and are required to be flexible when attached to biological surfaces. The devices will deform as driven by human motion and under external loading. In terms of mechanical modeling, most of these devices can be abstracted as shells. In this paper, we propose a mixed graph-finite element method (FEM) phase field approach to model the fracture of curved shells composed of hydrogels, for biomedical applications. We present herein examples for the fracture of a wearable biosensor, a membrane-coated drug, and a matrix for a cell culture, each made of a hydrogel. Used in combination with experimental material testing, our method opens a new pathway to the efficient modeling of fracture in biomedical devices with surfaces of arbitrary curvature, helping in the design of devices with tunable fracture properties.https://www.mdpi.com/2310-2861/8/8/515hydrogelscurved shellbiomedical devicesphase field |
| spellingShingle | Gang Zhang Hai Qiu Khalil I. Elkhodary Shan Tang Dan Peng Modeling Tunable Fracture in Hydrogel Shell Structures for Biomedical Applications Gels hydrogels curved shell biomedical devices phase field |
| title | Modeling Tunable Fracture in Hydrogel Shell Structures for Biomedical Applications |
| title_full | Modeling Tunable Fracture in Hydrogel Shell Structures for Biomedical Applications |
| title_fullStr | Modeling Tunable Fracture in Hydrogel Shell Structures for Biomedical Applications |
| title_full_unstemmed | Modeling Tunable Fracture in Hydrogel Shell Structures for Biomedical Applications |
| title_short | Modeling Tunable Fracture in Hydrogel Shell Structures for Biomedical Applications |
| title_sort | modeling tunable fracture in hydrogel shell structures for biomedical applications |
| topic | hydrogels curved shell biomedical devices phase field |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2310-2861/8/8/515 |
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