CONSTITUTIVE EQUATION FOR THE CANINE ANTERIOR CRUCIATE LIGAMENT

A simplified constitutive equation is proposed to characterize the nonlinear viscoelasiic behavior of the canine anterior cruciate ligament. The theory contains a single relaxation function which was measured experimentally by a series of uniaxial relaxation tests. To test the applicability of the theory, the experimentally determined function was used to attempt to predict the results of a special log-ramp test, as well as a constant strainrate test. It was found that the simplified equation predicted stress results which were somewhat higher than experiment throughout much of the strain range tested. © 1979 by ASME.