Table 1.

Symbols and units for variables of interest

Symbol	Variable	Units
Ftraction	Surface tractional forces	N
h	Thickness of TMJ disc	mm
D	Mediolateral position of the centroid of the stress-field	mm
a	Radius of stress-field	mm
Q	TMJ disc volume under the translating stress-field	mm3
y	Velocity of stress-field translation	mm/s
μtraction	Tractional coefficient = Ftraction/Fnormal	(none)
a	Constant=0.23*	(none)
x	Aspect ratio•compressive strain3 = a/h•(Δh/h)3	(none)
a/h	Aspect ratio	(none)
Δh/h	Compressive strain ≈ 0.1 =TMJ disc thickness change due to loading/original thickness	(none)
x0	Constant=0.82*	(none)
b	Constant=0.49*	(none)
y0	Constant=260*	mm/s
c	Constant=141*	mm/s
Fnormal	TMJ load	N
ΔD	Distance of stress-field translation	mm
Ftraction•ΔD	Work done	mJ
ψ	Energy density	mJ/mm3

^*Constant derived from previous laboratory experiments⁸.