Recently smooth-muscle tissue has been observed in the annular ligament of the moustached bat, Pteronotus parnellii. In order to lead to improved understanding of the function of this highly developed smooth-muscle system surrounding the tympanic membrane, a finite-element model was developed. / The complex geometry of the middle ear was defined using both magnetic-resonance microscopy and histological data. Contributions were made to the locally written software which was used for image segmentation and finite-element mesh generation. / The action of the smooth-muscle fibres is modelled by applying a radial load to the model of the tympanic membrane. The radial load is represented by placing load vectors tangential to the model of the tympanic membrane. / Simulations were carried out in order to investigate convergence, sensitivity to tympanic-membrane shape, and to evaluate the effects of pressure and radial loads.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.31074 |
| Date | January 2000 |
| Creators | Van Wijhe, Rene G. |
| Contributors | Funnell, W. R. J. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Engineering (Department of Biomedical Engineering.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001804660, proquestno: MQ70256, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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