title: Analysis of the effects of curvature and thickness on elastic wave velocity in cornea-like structures by finite element modeling and optical coherence elastography.
abstract: Wave models that have been used to extract the biomechanical properties of the cornea from the propagation of an elastic wave are based on an assumption of thin-plate geometry. However, this assumption does not account for the effects of corneal curvature and thickness. This study conducts finite element (FE) simulations on four types of cornea-like structures as well as optical coherence elastography (OCE) experiments on contact lenses and tissue-mimicking phantoms to investigate the effects of curvature and thickness on the group velocity of an elastic wave. The elastic wave velocity as determined by FE simulations and OCE of a spherical shell section decreased from ∼2.8 m/s to ∼2.2 m/s as the radius of curvature increased from 19.1 mm to 47.7 mm and increased from ∼3.0 m/s to ∼4.1 m/s as the thickness of the agar phantom increased from 1.9 mm to 5.6 mm. Both the FE simulation and OCE results confirm that the group velocity of the elastic wave decreases with radius of curvature but increases with thickness. These results demonstrate that the effects of the curvature and thickness must be considered in the further development of accurate wave models for reconstructing biomechanical properties of the cornea.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Houston , Houston, Texas 77204, USA.
authors.forename: Zhaolong
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-6494-150X
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Houston , Houston, Texas 77204, USA.
authors.forename: Jiasong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Houston , Houston, Texas 77204, USA.
authors.forename: Manmohan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin , Austin, Texas 78712, USA.
authors.forename: Salavat R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Aglyamov
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Houston , Houston, Texas 77204, USA.
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Houston , Houston, Texas 77204, USA.
authors.forename: Chih-Hao
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Kirill V
authors.initials: KV
authors.lastname: Larin