Open Access

ABSTRACT

On the Influence of Mechanical Behavior of the Middle Ear Ligaments: a Finite Element Analysis

Fernanda Gentil¹, Renato Natal Jorge², António Joaquim Mendes Ferreira³, Marco Parente⁴, Pedro Martins⁵, Eurico de Almeida⁶

1 FEUP, ESTSP, Clínica ORL – Dr. EA, Widex, fernanda.fgnanda@gmail.com
2 Corresponding author. Faculdade de Engenharia: R. Dr. Roberto Frias - 4200-465 Porto Portu-gal. Tel: +351225081720, Fax: +351225082201, rnatal@fe.up.pt
3 INEGI, Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, ferreira@fe.up.pt
4 IDMEC-Polo FEUP, Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, mparente@fe.up.pt
5 IDMEC-Polo FEUP, Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, palsm@fe.up.pt
6 Clínica ORL – Dr. Eurico de Almeida, clinicaorlea@mail.telepac.pt

The International Conference on Computational & Experimental Engineering and Sciences 2009, 9(1), 45-56. https://doi.org/10.3970/icces.2009.009.045

Abstract

The interest in finite element method (FEM) concerning biomechanics has been increasing, in particular, to analyze the mechanical behavior of the human ear. In this work, a finite element model of the middle ear was made. A dynamic study based on a structural response to harmonic vibrations, for different sound pressure levels, applied on the eardrum, is presented using the ABAQUS program. The model includes different ligaments and muscle tendons with elastic and hyperelastic behavior of these supportive structure. The non-linear behavior of the ligaments and muscle tendons was considered, being the connection between ossicles done by contact formulation. Harmonic responses of the umbo and stapes footplate displacements, from 100 Hz to 10 kHz, were obtained and compared with previous published works. The traction of ligaments (superior and anterior of malleus and superior and posterior of incus) was analyzed with a focus on their importance from a structural point of view. The results of this work allow to emphasize the importance on the use of hyperelastic models to simulate the mechanical behavior for the ligaments and tendons.

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Keywords

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