{"id":{"repo_id":"vt","oai_identifier":"oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/23110"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/vt/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/23110","repository":{"repo_id":"vt","name":"Virginia Tech","base_url":"https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"A Comparison of Methods for Measuring Damage in Sucrose-Treated Medial Collateral Ligaments","abstract":"The knee is the most complex joint in the human body. It consists of a system of muscle, bone, and ligaments that endures repetitive loading during daily and athletic activities. When this loading is excessive, damage to the knee occurs leading to a decreased quality of life.The medial collateral ligament (MCL) is one of the 4 major ligaments known to be commonly injured in the knee. The risk of injury to the knee joint increases with the elderly and individuals who experience chronic dehydration. For this reason, the focus of this study is to compare different mechanical quantities that can be used to analyze damage to the MCL. In this study, a novel mechanical testing protocol is used to progressively induce damage in dehydrated rat MCLs by performing tensile tests. This involves stretching the ligaments along their longitudinal axes to consecutive and increasing displacements starting at a 0.4 mm displacement and in increments of 0.2 mm until complete failure occurs. The load and change in length that the ligament experiences are measured at each displacement. Three different methods were evaluated to determine subfailure and damage propagation in rat MCLs: changes in tangent stiffness and chord stiffness, and changes in the load value at the 0.4 mm displacement for each load-displacement curve. The findings of this study indicate that the tangent stiffness and load at the 0.4 mm displacement provide information of the early onset of damage propagation. The decrease in chord stiffness of the ligament does not indicate damage progression in the ligament, but rather is the sign of the imminent failure of the MCL.This study provides insightful data into understanding the subfailure damage in the MCL.","abstract_html":"The knee is the most complex joint in the human body. It consists of a system of muscle, bone, and ligaments that endures repetitive loading during daily and athletic activities. When this loading is excessive, damage to the knee occurs leading to a decreased quality of life.The medial collateral ligament (MCL) is one of the 4 major ligaments known to be commonly injured in the knee. The risk of injury to the knee joint increases with the elderly and individuals who experience chronic dehydration. For this reason, the focus of this study is to compare different mechanical quantities that can be used to analyze damage to the MCL. In this study, a novel mechanical testing protocol is used to progressively induce damage in dehydrated rat MCLs by performing tensile tests. This involves stretching the ligaments along their longitudinal axes to consecutive and increasing displacements starting at a 0.4 mm displacement and in increments of 0.2 mm until complete failure occurs. The load and change in length that the ligament experiences are measured at each displacement. Three different methods were evaluated to determine subfailure and damage propagation in rat MCLs: changes in tangent stiffness and chord stiffness, and changes in the load value at the 0.4 mm displacement for each load-displacement curve. The findings of this study indicate that the tangent stiffness and load at the 0.4 mm displacement provide information of the early onset of damage propagation. The decrease in chord stiffness of the ligament does not indicate damage progression in the ligament, but rather is the sign of the imminent failure of the MCL.This study provides insightful data into understanding the subfailure damage in the MCL.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Stewart, Victor A."],"institution":"Virginia Tech","degree_name":"Master of Science","degree_level":"masters","degree_discipline":"Biomedical Engineering","degree_department":"Biomedical Engineering","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":["De Vita, Raffaella"],"committee_members":["Madigan, Michael L.","Socha, John J."],"year":2013,"date_issued":"2013-05-29","date_published":"2013-05-29","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:19:45Z","subjects":["medial collateral ligament","subfailure","damage","stiffness","elongation","FMTC"],"languages":[],"rights":["In Copyright"],"rights_urls":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["vt_gsexam:849"],"render_values":[{"text":"vt_gsexam:849","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/10919/23110","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.committeechair","label":"Committee Chair","values":["De Vita, Raffaella"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.committeemember","label":"Committee Member","values":["Madigan, Michael L.","Socha, John J."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Biomedical Engineering"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Stewart, Victor A."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2013-05-30T08:00:10Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2013-05-30T08:00:10Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2013-05-29"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Virginia Tech"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Biomedical Engineering"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["masters"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["medial collateral ligament","subfailure","damage","stiffness","elongation","FMTC"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["In Copyright"]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["vt_gsexam:849"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/10919/23110"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The knee is the most complex joint in the human body. It consists of a system of muscle, bone, and ligaments that endures repetitive loading during daily and athletic activities. When this loading is excessive, damage to the knee occurs leading to a decreased quality of life.The medial collateral ligament (MCL) is one of the 4 major ligaments known to be commonly injured in the knee. The risk of injury to the knee joint increases with the elderly and individuals who experience chronic dehydration. For this reason, the focus of this study is to compare different mechanical quantities that can be used to analyze damage to the MCL. In this study, a novel mechanical testing protocol is used to progressively induce damage in dehydrated rat MCLs by performing tensile tests. This involves stretching the ligaments along their longitudinal axes to consecutive and increasing displacements starting at a 0.4 mm displacement and in increments of 0.2 mm until complete failure occurs. The load and change in length that the ligament experiences are measured at each displacement. Three different methods were evaluated to determine subfailure and damage propagation in rat MCLs: changes in tangent stiffness and chord stiffness, and changes in the load value at the 0.4 mm displacement for each load-displacement curve. The findings of this study indicate that the tangent stiffness and load at the 0.4 mm displacement provide information of the early onset of damage propagation. The decrease in chord stiffness of the ligament does not indicate damage progression in the ligament, but rather is the sign of the imminent failure of the MCL.This study provides insightful data into understanding the subfailure damage in the MCL."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Master of Science"]},{"key":"dc:format.medium","label":"Dc Format Medium","values":["ETD"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["A Comparison of Methods for Measuring Damage in Sucrose-Treated Medial Collateral Ligaments"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.committeechair":["De Vita, Raffaella"],"dc:contributor.committeemember":["Madigan, Michael L.","Socha, John J."],"dc:contributor.department":["Biomedical Engineering"],"dc:creator":["Stewart, Victor A."],"dc:date.accessioned":["2013-05-30T08:00:10Z"],"dc:date.available":["2013-05-30T08:00:10Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2013-05-29"],"dc:description.abstract":["The knee is the most complex joint in the human body. It consists of a system of muscle, bone, and ligaments that endures repetitive loading during daily and athletic activities. When this loading is excessive, damage to the knee occurs leading to a decreased quality of life.The medial collateral ligament (MCL) is one of the 4 major ligaments known to be commonly injured in the knee. The risk of injury to the knee joint increases with the elderly and individuals who experience chronic dehydration. For this reason, the focus of this study is to compare different mechanical quantities that can be used to analyze damage to the MCL. In this study, a novel mechanical testing protocol is used to progressively induce damage in dehydrated rat MCLs by performing tensile tests. This involves stretching the ligaments along their longitudinal axes to consecutive and increasing displacements starting at a 0.4 mm displacement and in increments of 0.2 mm until complete failure occurs. The load and change in length that the ligament experiences are measured at each displacement. Three different methods were evaluated to determine subfailure and damage propagation in rat MCLs: changes in tangent stiffness and chord stiffness, and changes in the load value at the 0.4 mm displacement for each load-displacement curve. The findings of this study indicate that the tangent stiffness and load at the 0.4 mm displacement provide information of the early onset of damage propagation. The decrease in chord stiffness of the ligament does not indicate damage progression in the ligament, but rather is the sign of the imminent failure of the MCL.This study provides insightful data into understanding the subfailure damage in the MCL."],"dc:description.degree":["Master of Science"],"dc:format.medium":["ETD"],"dc:identifier.other":["vt_gsexam:849"],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/10919/23110"],"dc:publisher":["Virginia Tech"],"dc:rights":["In Copyright"],"dc:rights.uri":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"dc:subject":["medial collateral ligament","subfailure","damage","stiffness","elongation","FMTC"],"dc:title":["A Comparison of Methods for Measuring Damage in Sucrose-Treated Medial Collateral Ligaments"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Biomedical Engineering"],"thesis:degree_level":["masters"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science"],"thesis:institution_name":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:19:45Z"}