Figure 4. A cross-section of the 25889 finite element mesh of the single cell micro-scale case, which was determined to be mesh-converged.

The extracellular matrix (ECM), pericellular matrix (PCM), and chondrocyte (Cell) were discretized with linear hexahedral elements. The chondrocyte had 9 elements across its diameter and the pericellular matrix had 2 elements through its thickness. For the eleven cell case, the chondrocyte and pericellular matrix had the same mesh densities.