Robert L. Spilker

Chair, Department of Biomedical Engineering Department
Professor, Biomedical Engineering

Education:

B.S., Aeronautics, University of Illinois, 1971
M.S., Aeronautics, Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1972
Sc.D., Aeronautics, Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1974

Career Highlights:

After spending two years as a postdoctoral research associate in the Aeroelastic and Structures Research Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Spilker joined the faculty of the Department of Civil Engineering, Mechanics, and Metallurgy at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1976. Eight years later, he joined the faculty of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as professor of computational mechanics, in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Aeronautical Engineering and Mechanics, and he became chair of the Biomedical Engineering Department in 1994. He served as chair of the Executive Committee of the Bioengineering Division for the American Society of Mechanical Engineering, serves as chair of the executive committee of the U. S. National Committee on Biomechanics, and is a member of the executive committee of the U. S. Association of Computational Mechanics. He is also a member of the Orthopedic Research Society, and the American Society of Engineering Education, and serves on the editorial advisory board of several journals in the areas of bioengineering and computational mechanics. Spilker is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering.

Research Areas:

The long range goal of Spilker's research activities is to provide the computation/simulation tools and graphical user interfaces that allow the medical researcher, designer and clinician to simulate patient-specific function of human tissues and organs, and to link that function to characteristics of the natural or synthetic material, including its cellular and genetic composition. These functional-tissue-engineering tools will allow the clinician and engineer to make decisions based on engineering analysis of tissue function in human systems such as the musculoskeletal or cardiovascular system, and be an integral part of the design of patient-specific diagnosis and treatment. Spilker's research laboratory is currently focused on developing computational formulations and algorithms, based on the finite element method, for the 3D analysis of soft hydrated tissues such as articular cartilage in the human musculoskeletal system.

Finite element formulations, automatic mesh generation methods, methods for error control, graphical user interfaces and parallel algorithms under development within the Scientific Computation Research Center (SCOREC) at Rensselaer are coupled with human joint geometric and material properties measured by Spilker's collaborators at the Orthopedic Research Laboratory at Columbia University.

Selected Publications:

J.-K. Suh , R.L. Spilker, "Indentation analysis of biphasic articular cartilage: Nonlinear phenomena under finite deformation." Journal of Biomechanical Engineering, 1994. 116: p. 1-9.

P.S. Donzelli , R.L. Spilker, "Investigation of gleno-humeral contact by the finite element method, in Transactions of the Orthopaedic Research Society." 1995, Orthopaedic Research Society: Orlando, FL. p. 684.

E.S. Almeida , R.L. Spilker, "Mixed and penalty finite element models for the nonlinear behavior of biphasic soft tissues in finite deformation: Part I - Alternate formulations." Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering, 1997. 1: p. 25-46.

P.S. Donzelli, G.A. Ateshian, R.L. Spilker, " Biphasic finite element contact solutions and comparisons with analytic results, in Fourth U. S. National Congress on Computational Mechanics," M.S. Shephard, Editor. 1997, U.S. Association for Computational Mechanics: San Francisco. p. 125.

P.S. Donzelli, F. Eckstein, R. Putz, R.L. Spilker, " Physiological joint incongruity significantly affects the load partitioning between the solid and fluid phases of articular cartilage." Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, 1997.

R.L. Spilker, M.S. Shephard, P.S. Donzelli, W.L. Dunbar, R. Michalowski, R.M. O'Bara, V.C. Mow, G.A. Ateshian, " Computational tools for the 3D analysis of diarthrodial joint soft tissue mechanics using physiological data." Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 1997.

E.S. Almeida , R.L. Spilker, " Mixed and penalty finite element models for the nonlinear behavior of biphasic soft tissues in finite deformation: Part II - Nonlinear examples." Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering, 1998. 1: p. 151-170.

E.S. Almeida , R.L. Spilker, " Finite element formulations for hyperelastic transversely isotropic biphasic soft tissues." Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 1998. 151: p. 513-538.

P. Donzelli , R. Spilker, " Finite element solutions of contact problems in soft hydrated tissues." Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 1998. 26(Supplement 1): p. 77.

P.S. Donzelli, R.M. OBara, R.L. Spilker, L.M. Gallo, H.F. Baumann, S. Palla, " FEM simulation of TMJ disc deformation." Journal of Dental Research, 1998. 77(Special Issue B): p. 1028.

P.S. Donzelli , R.L. Spilker, " A contact finite element formulation for biological soft hydrated tissues." Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 1998. 153: p. 63-79.

R. Spilker , P. Donzelli, " Computational methods in orthopedics: A review of the state of the art." Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 1998. 26(Supplement 1): p. 108.

R.L. Spilker, P.S. Donzelli, V.C. Mow, V.C. Ateshian, " Computational Methods for Three-Dimensional Contact Analysis of Diarthrodial Joint Soft Tissue Mechanics," in 13th National Congress on Theoretical and Applied Mechanics. 1998: Gainesville.

P. Donzelli, G. Ateshian, R. Spilker, V. Mow, " Contact as a paradigm for finite element solutions of hydrated soft tissue mechanics," in 1999 Summer Bioengineering Conference. 1999, ASME: Big Sky, MT. p. 333-334.

P.S. Donzelli, R.L. Spilker, G.A. Ateshian, V.C. Mow, " Contact analysis of biphasic transversely isotropic cartilage layers and correlations with tissue failure." Journal of Biomechanics, 1999. 32: p. 1037-1047.

R. Spilker, P. Donzelli, M. Shephard, " Computational methods for functional soft tissue engineering," in 1999 Summer Bioengineering Conference. 1999, ASME: Big Sky, MT.

K. Ün, P.S. Donzelli, R.L. Spilker, V.M. Wang, G.A. Ateshian, V.C. Mow, " Simulation of biphasic tissue contact in the human glenohumeral joint using penetration data," in Proceedings of 1999 Bioengineering Conference. 1999, ASME: Big Sky, MT.

B. Chan, P. Donzelli, R. Spilker, " A mixed-penalty biphasic finite element formulation incorporating viscous fluids and material interfaces." Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 2000. 28: p. 589-597.

E.M. Miller, P.S. Donzelli, R.L. Spilker, " A method to calculate volumetric integral averages from a finite element solution," in 2000 Advances in Bioengineering. 2000, ASME: Orlando, FL.

K. Ün, P.S. Donzelli, R.L. Spilker, " Finite element simulation of cartilage mechanics during diarthrodial joint motion using physiological data," in 2000 Advances in Bioengineering. 2000, ASME: Orlando, FL.

E. M. Miller, P. S. Donzelli and R. L. Spilker, " Cartilage inhomogeneity affects the stress response in unconfined compression," in: ed., 47th Transactions of the Orthopaedic Research Society (Orthopaedic Research Society, San Fransisco, CA, 2000)

W. Dunbar, K. Ün, P. Donzelli and R. Spilker, " An evaluation of three dimensional diarthrodial joint contact using penetration data and the finite element method," J. Biomech. Engng. 123 (2001) 333 - 340

P. Donzelli, L. Gallo, R. Spilker, S. Palla, " Biphasic finite element simulation of the TMJ disc from in vivo kinematic and geometric measurements." Journal of Biomechanics, 2001. (in review).

E. Miller, R. Spilker, " A method to calculate volumetric integral averages from biphasic finite element analysis and its application to spatially-varying properties in the unconfined compression problem," Journal of Biomechanical Engineering, 2001. (in review).

Contact Information:

Robert L. Spilker
Jonsson Engineering Center 7049
(518) 276-2154
spilker@rpi.edu
www.rpi.edu/~spilker/