On application of Fung's quasi-linear viscoelastic model to modeling of impact experiment for articular cartilage

•Behavior of the coefficient of restitution is studied in detail.•Fung's quasi-linear viscoelastic model is used to characterize articular cartilage.•Fung's model explains the impact process better than the Hunt–Crossley model.

A one-dimensional impact problem for articular cartilage is considered. Behavior of the coefficient of restitution, peak strain, maximum stress in the drop-weight impact experiment is studied in detail. The non-linear viscoelastic Hunt–Crossley model previously used to fit experimental data is compared with a new quasi-linear viscoelastic Kelvin–Voigt model enriched in Fung's non-linear assumptions. It has been shown that the new model, having clear physical sense, better describes the experimental data.