Project description
Modelling biological contact mechanics
There is a need to better understand the phenomena occurring at biological interfaces such as those involving biological soft tissues and complex fluids. The EU-funded BIOCONTACT project aims to build a mechanical model for biological soft tissues that employs laws of contact mechanics. The model will help characterise the chemical and mechanical interactions that take place at the interface, taking into account the properties of the different materials. Combined with a lubrication model, the contact model will address the solid–liquid interaction and generate a tool of industrial and medical relevance to resolve issues such as the prevention of hospital bedsores and the compatibility of prosthetic implants.
Objective
In the last decade, a number of medical and bio-engineering challenges, requiring a deep understanding of the phenomena occurring at biological interfaces, have intensified scientific interest in the field of biological contact mechanics. BIOCONTACT will develop an innovative methodology to tackle bio-lubricated contacts involving soft tissues in the presence of complex fluids, enhancing the understanding of these interactions, by pursuing new models and numerical methodologies, specifically suited for this class of problem. This approach is key to provide long-term societal benefits by solving long-standing issues including the prevention of hospital bedsores, the mechanical compatibility of prosthetic implants or contact lens, and the optimization of surgical procedures and tools. In particular, my vision is to first build a mechanical model for biological soft tissues that specifically uses constitutive laws for multi-layered linear viscoelastic materials. This model will be then implemented in a newly developed contact mechanics solver, based on improved Boundary Element Method schemes that I have recently proposed, and that will be able to capture specific chemo-mechanical local responses adopting mean potentials that rely on atomistic and molecular descriptions of the interface. In the framework of inverse analysis, the material properties of individual layers will be tuned to best replicate the experimental behavior captured using an innovative procedure. This relies on a new scale separation methodology and is able to probe different zones and layers within the tissue. Finally, in order to provide a complete and widely applicable tool, solid-liquid interaction will be addressed by coupling the contact model with a lubrication model, based on non-Newtonian Reynolds theory. The development of this ready-to-use numerical tool will foster the uptake of my proposed methodologies for use in the above mentioned complex cases of industrial and medical relevance.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology mechanical engineering tribology lubrication
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine surgery surgical procedures
- medical and health sciences medical biotechnology implants
- social sciences law
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EF
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2018
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
SW7 2AZ London
United Kingdom
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.