Deformation of composite–aluminium bolted joints subjected to uniaxial quasistatic tension load is modelled using an Iwan model for each fastener. Experimental data obtained with the digital image correlation technique are used to identify a suitable Iwan model distribution function and parameters to represent the bolts in single-shear and double-shear bolted lap joints. It is seen that the model, with parameters identified from the experiments, represents the displacements of the joint correctly, and an implementation in a commercial finite element software is demonstrated. The proposed model is intended as a computationally efficient structural element for modelling structures containing multiple fasteners.

The quasistatic failure of composite-aluminium bolted joints is investigated experimentally using the stereo Digital Image Correlation (DIC) technique. Single-shear, two-bolt lap joints made of carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminates and aluminium plates are subjected to tensile load while being monitored using stereo-DIC. The measured displacements are processed by removing outliers using the Grubbs test and reducing noise by exploiting symmetries of the specimen geometry. The development of the Gauss curvature across the CFRP is computed from DIC displacement data, and a sudden onset of curvature in the vicinity of the bolts is observed as a precursor to bearing failure. Fractographs of cross-sections of partially failed CFRP near the bolts confirm compressive damage of laminates as the source of this localised curvature. We conclude that stereo-DIC is useful as a non-contact measurement of bearing failure initiation.

We consider adhesion due to London–van der Waals attraction between a thin film and a patterned surface with nanometer asperities. Depending on the surface topography and the stiffness of the film, three regimes of adhesion are identified: complete contact adhesion, partial contact adhesion, and glassy adhesion. For complete contact adhesion, the film conforms to the undulations of the surface, whereas for partial contact and glassy adhesion, the adhesive interface breaks down into microscopic areas of contact. When a film in the glassy regime is peeled off the surface, metastable states develop at which the crack front becomes arrested, analogously to the frustrated motion of the three-phase contact line across a heterogeneous surface. For this glassy regime, we use transition state theory to model the thermally activated progression of the crack front. This theoretical treatment suggests that the rate of the adhesive failure increases exponentially with the applied force.

Fluid flow is important in many biomechanical models, but there is a lack of experimental data that quantifies soft tissue permeability. We measured the tissue permeability in fibrous soft tissue, using a novel technique to obtain specimens by allowing soft tissue to grow into coralline hydroxyapatite scaffoldings implanted between the abdominal muscle layers of rats.

A model to calculate bone resorption driven by fluid flow at the bone-soft tissue interface is developed and used as a basis for computer calculations, which are compared to experiments where bone is subjected to fluid flow in a rat model. Previous models for bone remodelling calculations have been based on the state of stress, strain or energy density of the bone tissue as the stimulus for remodelling. We believe that there is experimental support for an additional pathway where an increase in the amount of the cells directly involved in bone removal, the osteoclasts, is caused by fluid pressure, flow velocity or other parameters related to fluid flow at the bone-soft tissue interface, resulting in bone resorption.

Background Unstable implants in bone become surrounded by an osteolytic zone. This is seen around loose screws, for example, but may also contribute to prosthetic loosening. Previous animal studies have shown that such zones can be induced by fluctuations in fluid pressure or flow, caused by implant instability. Method To understand the roles of pressure and flow, we describe the 3-dimensional distribution of osteolytic lesions in response to fluid pressure and flow in a previously reported rat model of aseptic loosening. 50 rats had a piston inserted in the proximal tibia, designed to produce 20 local spikes in fluid pressure of a clinically relevant magnitude (700 mmHg) twice a day. The spikes lasted for about 0.3 seconds. After 2 weeks, the pressure was measured in vivo, and the osteolytic lesions induced were studied using micro-CT scans. Results Most bone resorption occurred at pre-existing cavities within the bone in the periphery around the pressurized region, and not under the piston. This region is likely to have a higher fluid flow and less pressure than the area just beneath the piston. The velocity of fluid flow was estimated to be very high (roughly 20 mm/s). Interpretation The localization of the resorptive lesions suggests that high-velocity fluid flow is important for bone resorption induced by instability.

A model where bone resorption is driven by stimulus from fluid flow is developed and used as a basis for computer simulations, which are compared with experiments. Models for bone remodeling are usually based on the state of stress, strain, or energy density of the bone tissue as the stimulus for remodeling. We believe that there is experimental support for an additional pathway, where an increase in the amount of osteoclasts, and thus osteolysis, is caused by the time history of fluid flow velocity, fluid pressure, or other parameters related to fluid flow at the bone/soft tissue interface of the porosities in the bone.

Thermoelastic contact problems can posess non-unique and/or unstable steady-state solutions if there is frictional heating or if there is a pressure-dependent thermal contact resistance at the interface. These two effects have been extensively studied in isolation, but their possible interaction has never been investigated. In this paper, we consider an idealized problem in which a thermoelastic rod slides against a rigid plane with both frictional heating and a contact resistance. For sufficiently low sliding speeds, the results are qualitatively similar to those with no sliding. In particular, there is always an odd number of steady-state solutions, if the steady-state is unique it is stable and if it is non-unique, stable and unstable solutions alternate, with the outlying solutions being stable. However, we identify a sliding speed V0 above which the number of steady states is always even (including zero, implying possible non-existence of a steady-state) and again stable and unstable states alternate. A parallel numerical study shows that for V > V0 there are some initial conditions from which the contact pressure grows without limit in time, whereas for V < V0 the system will always tend to one of the stable steady states. © 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.