Journal article
Relating age and micro-architecture with apparent-level elastic constants: a micro-finite element study of female cortical bone from the anterior femoral midshaft
FE Donaldson, P Pankaj, DML Cooper, CDL Thomas, JG Clement, AHRW Simpson
Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine | SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD | Published : 2011
Abstract
Homogenized elastic properties are often assumed for macro-finite element (FE) models used in orthopaedic biomechanics. The accuracy of material property assignments may have a strong effect on the ability of these models to make accurate predictions. For cortical bone, most macro-scale FE models assume isotropic elastic material behaviour and do not include variation of material properties due to bone micro-architecture. The first aim of the present study was to evaluate the variation of apparent-level (homogenized) orthotropic elastic constants of cortical bone with age and indices of bone micro-architecture. Considerable age-dependent differences in porosity were noted across the cortical..
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Funding Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland for their financial support. The authors thank Dr B. van Rietbergen of Eindhoven University of Technology for his helpful correspondence. The authors would also like to acknowledge Dr Benedikt Hallgrimsson of the University of Calgary's 3D Morphometrics Laboratory for his assistance during the initial acquisition of the mu CT image data. The authors thank Professor Stephen Cordner, Director of the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, and the staff of the mortuary and Donor Tissue Bank for their assistance in the collection of the bone specimens. They are also grateful to the next-of-kin of the donors for permission to remove bone for research purposes.