Study on the damage mechanism of articular cartilage based on the fluid–solid coupled particle model

Articular cartilage damage is the primary cause of osteoarthritis. Very little literature work focuses on the microstructural damage mechanism of articular cartilage. In this article, a new numerical method that characterizes fluid coupling in particle model is proposed to study the damage mechanism of articular cartilage. Numerical results show that the damage mechanism of articular cartilage is related to the microstructure of collagen. The damage mechanism of superficial articular cartilage is tangential damage. On the other hand, horizontal separation is the damage mechanism of deep articular cartilage. The new numerical method shows the capability to effectively reveal the damage mechanism of superficial articular cartilage.