The establishment and analysis of a three-dimensionalfinite element model of whole cervical spine with muscles

English Keywords:Cervical spine  Muscle  Finite element  Biomechanics

English Abstract:

  【Abstract】 Objectives: To establish a three-dimensional finite element model of whole cervical spine with muscles and evaluate its validity, in order to establish a good working platform for further analyzing the biomechanical mechanism of cervical spine diseases. Methods: A 34-year-old healthy male volunteer underwent cervical thin-section CT scans. The raw data of CT scans were stored in Dicom format. Then the CT data were reconstructed reversely with Mimics17 into the 3D cervical point cloud model which were further fitted into NURBS surface model with Geomagic Studio 2012. Then NURBS surface model was imported into Hypermesh12 for mesh partitioning, assignment of material property, definition of contact and boundary condition and other operations. Finally, finite element analysis was carried out with ABAQUS 6.12. The range of moves(ROMs) inflexion, extension, lateral bending and rotation were compared with the literature data in order to validate the model. Results: The model consisted of 789024 elements and 285045 nodes. In term of appearance, this model had good geometric similarity with the human cervical spine. The comparisons between the ROMs of the model in flexion, extension, lateral bending and rotation with the reference ranges provided by the literature data summed to 80 times, with 24 times(30%) exceeding a part of reference ranges and only C5-6 ROM in lateral bending(8.4°) and C0-C1 ROM in rotation(24.2°) exceeding all reference ranges(P＜0.05). Conclusions: The normal three-dimensional finite element model of whole cervical spine with muscles meets the standard of geometric and mechanical similarity required in finite element analysis, thuscan be used for the biomechanical analysis of cervical spine.