Dynamic Compressive Response of Renal Cortex

Abstract

The compressive mechanical responses of bovine kidney tissues are characterized over a wide range of strain rates in this research. The specimens are taken from the cortex of fresh kidneys. A hydraulic materials testing system is used to conduct compression experiments at the quasi-static strain-rates of 0.01/s

and 0.1/s as well as at the intermediate strain rates of 1/s, 10/s and 100/s. A modified Kolsky compression bar is used to conduct experiments at higher strain-rates ranging from 1,000/s to 3,000/s. The specimen geometry in high-rate experiments is also controlled to minimize inertia effects. The kidney tissues are characterized at every decade of strain rate over a five-decade range. The experiment results show that the non-linear compressive stress-strain behavior of the bovine renal cortex is highly sensitive to strain rates. The tissue stiffens significantly with increasing strain-rates.