Multiscale phenomena related to diabetic foot.

Diabetes is a group of metabolic diseases causing a system disorder, i.e.; it cannot be explained or understood by phenomena on single material scale. The diabetic foot is studied as flexible multibody structure by nonlinear finite element method. The physical and geometrical multiscale heterogeneity is solved by multilevel finite element approach. The diabetic tissue is described by internal coordinate's formalism, as complex multiscale process in tissue. The accompanying problem of the axisymetric wound healing is solved numerically. Some results related to foot deformity, stress and strain concentration and wound healing are presented.

Biomechanical model of the diabetic foot.

In this work, a two dimensional (2D) finite element foot model was established from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of a male subject. The model comprises first medial planar cross-section through the foot, representing the foot in standing posture. For specified external load, the stress and strain distribution field under foot structure are determined. The material characterization of foot structure components are stronger related to diabetic phenomena. The new material model for soft tissue based on mixture theory is proposed. The linear finite element model replaced by nonlinear counterpart with segment-to-segment contact element.

Foot morphometric phenomena.

Knowledge of the foot morphometry is important for proper foot structure and function. Foot structure as a vital part of human body is important for many reasons. The foot anthropometric and morphology phenomena are analyzed together with hidden biomechanical descriptors in order to fully characterize foot functionality. For Croatian student population the scatter data of the individual foot variables were interpolated by multivariate statistics. Foot morphometric descriptors are influenced by many factors, such as life style, climate, and things of great importance in human society. Dominant descriptors related to fit and comfort are determined by the use 3D foot shape and advanced foot biomechanics. Some practical recommendations and conclusions for medical, sportswear and footwear practice are highlighted.

Blood flow multiscale phenomena.

The cardiovascular disease is one of most frequent cause deaths in modern society. The objective of this work is analyse the effect of dynamic vascular geometry (curvature, torsion, bifurcation) and pulsatile blood nature on secondary flow, wall shear stress and platelet deposition. The problem was examined as multi-scale physical phenomena using perturbation analysis and numerical modelling. The secondary flow determined as influence pulsatile pressure, vascular tube time-dependent bending and torsion on the main axial flow. Bifurcation and branching phenomena are analysed experimentally through, blood-like fluid pulsatile flow across elastic rubber-like Y-model model. The problem complex geometry near branching in platelet deposit modelling is resolved numerically as Falker-Skan flow.

The cancellous bone multiscale morphology-elasticity relationship.

The cancellous bone effective properties relations are analysed on multiscale across two aspects; properties of representative volume element on micro scale and statistical measure of trabecular trajectory orientation on mesoscale. Anisotropy of the microstructure is described across fabric tensor measure with trajectory orientation tensor as bridging scale connection. The scatter measured data (elastic modulus, trajectory orientation, apparent density) from compression test are fitted by stochastic interpolation procedure. The engineering constants of the elasticity tensor are estimated by last square fitt procedure in multidimensional space by Nelder-Mead simplex. The multiaxial failure surface in strain space is constructed and interpolated by modified super-ellipsoid.

Foot anthropometry and morphology phenomena.

Foot structure description is important for many reasons. The foot anthropometric morphology phenomena are analyzed together with hidden biomechanical functionality in order to fully characterize foot structure and function. For younger Croatian population the scatter data of the individual foot variables were interpolated by multivariate statistics. Foot structure descriptors are influenced by many factors, as a style of life, race, climate, and things of the great importance in human society. Dominant descriptors are determined by principal component analysis. Some practical recommendation and conclusion for medical, sportswear and footwear practice are highlighted.