title: Model for bone strength and osteoporotic fractures.
abstract: Inner porous regions play a critical role in the load bearing capability of large bones. We show that an extension of disordered elastic networks [Chung et al., Phys. Rev. B 54, 15 094 (1996)] exhibits analogs of several known mechanical features of bone. The "stress backbones" and histograms of stress distributions for healthy and weak networks are shown to be qualitatively different. A hereto untested relationship between bone density and bone strength is presented.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204, USA.
authors.forename: Gemunu H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Gunaratne
authors.forename: Chamith S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Rajapaksa
authors.forename: Kevin E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Bassler
authors.forename: Kishore K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Mohanty
authors.forename: Sunil J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Wimalawansa
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015519:Bone Density / Q000502:physiology; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D004548:Elasticity; D005260:Female; D050723:Fractures, Bone / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D010024:Osteoporosis / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013718:Tensile Strength