Figure 2.

Contour plots of the predicted first (second column) and second (third column) principal strains by the microscale models with and without defects (first column). Removed beams are shown in a different gray to aid recognizing the changes. The distributions of the first and second principal strains in pores forming the defect are shown in the fourth and fifth columns, respectively. The vertical dotted line shows the maximum (95th percentile) first principal strain and minimum (5th percentile) second principal strain, corresponding to the maximum stretch and compression, respectively. In the baseline model without a defect (first row), there was a wide variation in the first principal strain from one pore to another. The maximum first principal strain in models with defects decreased, but not monotonically, with the size of the defect. Interestingly, in the model with the largest defect (bottom row), the second principal strain in the defect itself was positive (green arrow), suggesting no neural tissue compression in the defect region. vol, volume fraction.