BONE BIOMECHANICAL MODELING BASED ON CELLULAR STRUCTURE: METHODS AND EVALUATION

Abstract

The aim of this study is to establish a biomechanical model of bone on the basis of cellular structure and then to evaluate its accuracy for the clinical application. The thighbone of swine was scanned by computed tomography (CT). The resulting sectional images were input into MIMICS10.01 to generate a three-dimensional geometric model. A biomechanical model of bone was built on the basis of cellular structure, and calculations of the model were implemented in MATLAB with the finite element method. With this cellular mechanics model, axial compression load was simulated, and load–axial and load–transverse strain at the measurement points were detected. To evaluate the model, a mechanics model derived from an empirical formula was simulated under the same conditions, and an actual biomechanical experiment was also conducted. The simulated results obtained from the two models were then compared with the test results, indicating that the simulated results for the cellular model were closer to the test results than those for the empirical mechanics model. Therefore, the proposed cellular mechanics model shows advantages in accuracy and scope of application for bone modeling.