Open Knee - An Open Access Finite Element Represetation of the Knee (v1 available)

[Ahmet Erdemir]

Dear Colleguaes,

I would like to announce first release version of Open Knee, a three-dimensional finite element representation of the knee joint. This version includes finite element mesh of the tibiofemoral joint incorporating nonlinearly elastic properties for soft tissue structures. The model is designed to be used with FEBio, an open-source nonlinear finite element solver that is specifically designed for biomechanical applications. The distribution also contains mesh file and detailed documentation for potentially porting the model to other desired finite element analysis packages.

Project Site: https://simtk.org/home/openknee

To download the package follow the Downloads link on the left sidebar of the project site. Documentation is already included in the download package but can be accessed separately by following the Documents link on the left side bar at the project site.

I would like to acknowledge Bhushan Borotikar and Ton van den Bogert for providing the data; and Steve Maas and Jeff Weiss for their efforts on developing FEBio. Please forward any questions related to this distribution to Scott Sibole (siboles@ccf.org) and/or Ahmet Erdemir (erdemira@ccf.org). You can post your questions regarding using or developing Open Knee at the forums that can be accessed at https://simtk.org/forum/?group_id=485.

I hope you will find this model useful and I am looking forward to hear back from you.

Best Regards,

Ahmet

[Daniel Leib]

Re: Open Knee - An Open Access Finite Element Represetation of the Knee (v1 available

Thanks to all who have contributed for releasing this model! It's always helpful when this kind of information is made public so that not every lab has to go through the tedious process of meshing the knee and that we can spend more time answering questions instead of clicking on DICOM images.

I'm not terribly familiar with the Creative Commons license and wanted to ask a question regarding the use of the model, however, as I didn't see any specific mention of funded projects on the simtk site or the linked CC site. Is the model free as in speech and as in beer? Are there any limitations on its use if research is funded by, say, a commercial partner or an NIH type of grant?

Thanks,

Dan

[Ahmet Erdemir]

Re: Open Knee - An Open Access Finite Element Represetation of the Knee (v1 available

Hi Dan,

Open Knee is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike license, which in turn makes it free as in speech and as in beer. You can copy, distribute and transmit the work and adapt it for any purpose, commercial or not. The requirements are that you attribute the work (that can be simply providing a link to the Open Knee site or citing the relevant documents) and if you alter, transform or build upon this work, distribute the resulting work in a similar manner (in case you decide to distribute it). I believe this license only becomes problematic if you want to encapsulate the model into a commercial product without providing its source code. In these cases, you can always contact the Open Knee team to get the model with different licensing terms. Also note that FEBio (the solver for Open Knee) comes with different licensing terms, you may want to consult FEBio developers in that regards.

Best,

Ahmet

ps. This information simply relies on my understanding of open source licensing schemes and different Creative Commons licenses. If anyone feels that I am wrong, feel free to pitch in the discussion.

[Daniel Leib]

Re: Open Knee - An Open Access Finite Element Represetation of the Knee (v1 available

Hi Ahmet,

Thanks for the reply, I thought that what you describe is how the license worked but thought it a good idea to verify, these open source licenses can be a potential minefield.

I'll get in contact with the FEBio folks as well.

Have a good one,

Dan