ABSTRACT
Several continuum theories have been proposed to model the mechanical and transport responses and to describe macroscopic couplings in articular cartilages. The model is “macroscopic” even if it “sees” a number of details of the tissues at several length scales. This chapter introduces refinements pertaining to coupled transports in tissues and a number of definitions and relations are reconsidered. The sign of the electrical charge indicates that a cation is moving towards the cathode, while an anion is moving towards the anode, i.e., in the direction of increasing electrical potential. In suspension mechanics and environmental geomechanics, this phenomenon known as electrophoresis is used to densify fine particle suspensions around the anode; densified materials are removed periodically to allow for the process of anion elimination to continue. The chapter reports an exponential decrease of the hydraulic conductivity with the compressive strain.
