A hollow osteon model for examining its poroelastic behaviors: Mathematically modeling an osteon with different boundary cases

Abstract

Abstract A single osteon is modeled as a hollow poroelastic annular cylinder to examine its fluid pressure distribution and transport behavior. We propose an extension of the osteon model by considering four types of different boundary conditions that might be encountered in physiological environments or yet-to-be-developed laboratory testing procedures. This model links the external loads to the osteonal fluid pressure and velocity, which may have a significant stimulus to the mechanotransduction of bone remodeling signals. This model can also be used for analyzing other experiments performed on similarly shaped poroelastic specimens. The obtained analytical pressure and velocity solutions demonstrate the effects of the loading conditions and the material parameters. The results show the pore pressure and fluid velocity are both proportionate to the strain amplitude and the frequency. Nevertheless, the key loading role governing the poroelastic response of the osteon is strain rate. At the osteon scale, the pressure is also strongly affected by the material parameter of permeability variations whereas fluid velocity is not.