title: Orthotropic properties of cancellous bone modelled as parameterized cellular material.
abstract: Analysis of stresses and strains in bone tissues and simulation of their adaptive remodelling require exhaustive information about distribution of constitutive properties of cancellous bone and their relationships to microstructural parameters. Homogenization of "equivalent" trabecular microstructures appears to be an advantageous tool for this task. In this study, parameterized orthotropic constitutive models of cancellous bone are derived from finite element analysis of repeatable microstructure cells. The models, based on a space-filling dodecahedron, are fully three-dimensional and are parameterized with four shape parameters. Variation of the parameters allows to imitate most of typical microstructure patterns observed in real bones, along with a variety of intermediate geometries. Finite element models of cells are generated by a special-purpose structured mesh generator for any arbitrary set of shape parameter values. Static numerical tests are performed for an exhaustive number of parameter value sets (microstructure instances). Coefficients of elastic orthotropic stiffness matrix are determined as tabularized functions of elastic constants versus the shape parameters. Additionally, they are correlated to apparent density and principal fabric tensor values. Comparison of the results with micro-FE data obtained for a large set of cancellous bone specimens proves a good agreement.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Fundamental Technological Research, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Swietokrzyska 21, 00-049, Warsaw, Poland. piotr.kowalczyk@ippt.gov.pl
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kowalczyk
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016880:Anisotropy; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D019245:Compressive Strength; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004548:Elasticity; D020342:Finite Element Analysis; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D010006:Osteoblasts / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D013718:Tensile Strength; D016474:Weight-Bearing / Q000502:physiology