A viscoelastic anisotropic hyperelastic constitutive model of the human cornea

A constitutive model based on the continuum mechanics theory has been developed which represents interlamellar cohesion, regional variation of collagen fibril density, 3D anisotropy and both age-related viscoelastic and hyperelastic stiffening behaviour of the human cornea. Experimental data gathered from a number of previous studies on 48 ex vivo human cornea (inflation and shear tests) enabled calibration of the constitutive model by numerical analysis. Wide-angle X-ray scattering and electron microscopy provided measured data which quantify microstructural arrangements associated with stiffness. The present study measures stiffness parallel to the lamellae of the cornea which approximately doubles with an increase in strain rate from 0.5 to 5%/min, while the underlying stromal matrix provides a stiffness 2-3 orders of magnitude lower than the lamellae. The model has been simultaneously calibrated to within 3% error across three age groups ranging from 50 to 95 years and three strain rates across the two loading scenarios. Age and strain-rate-dependent material coefficients allow numerical simulation under varying loading scenarios for an individual patient with material stiffness approximated by their age. This present study addresses a significant gap in numerical representation of the cornea and has great potential in daily clinical practice for the planning and optimisation of corrective procedures and in preclinical optimisation of diagnostic procedures.