On the Mechanical Experiments and Modeling of Human Cervix

The mechanical function of the uterine cervix is critical for a healthy pregnancy. During pregnancy, the cervix undergoes a significant remodeling from a mechanical barrier into a compliant structure to allow for a successful delivery. A too early or too late cervical softening will lead to spontaneous preterm births (sPTB) or dystocia. PTB is a leading cause of neonatal death, affecting 15 million newly born babies each year around the world. According to CDC, the rate of PTB increases in recent years. Dystocia increases the risk to both mother and newborn babies, leading to neonatal asphyxia, neonatal infection, uterine rupture, or other dangerous sequelae. Therefore, it is significant to have a better correlation of the mechanical properties change and the biological remodeling process of the cervix during pregnancy. This thesis will focus on (1) mechanical experiments of the human cervix, and (2) the development of a material constitutive model for cervix to characterize the complex microstructure-related mechanical property of the cervix. In this thesis, a spherical indentation test was designed and conducted on human cervical samples sliced perpendicular to the axial directio