STRUCTURALMODEL.PDFVIP

THE HUMAN CORNEA: A NEW COMPREHENSIVE, BIOMECHANICAL STRUCTURAL MODEL. Alberto Miatello (12th February 2013) Abstract The main purpose of this study is to theoretically support the new laboratory experiments with biosynthetic materials, trying to replicate the human cornea. It enables to do so by outlining – with a more advanced structural model that is fully supported by experimental data – a fundamental concept that any makers of biosynthetic cornea should always keep in mind : it should faithfully replicate all the features (even the smallest) of a natural human cornea: i.e. sizes, thickness of the layers, shapes, etc. , because all the features of a natural human cornea are contributing to a perfect structural distribution of strains and yield stresses both from external forces and from internal sources (i.e. IOP, Intra Ocular Pressure changes inside the anterior chamber). In section 1 it is being proposed a new, original structural model focusing on the concept of elastic inertia/ellipse, a concept stemming from structural engineering of bridges, that was conceived by Cullman Ritter at the end of XIX century, which is here being applied for the first time to the structural analysis of the human cornea, leading to the important discovery that the unusual shape of a human cornea’s section (thinner at the central apex, and wider near the limbus) is really the best to assure a constant and uniform distribution of the outside and inside strains on the whole structure. In section 2, it is underlined the connection between the physiological changes in % of water content, and h