Meshing influence on numerical analysis of ulna bone

Abstract

The paper presents a comparative analysis of biomechanical behavior of eight models of ulna bone having different number of surface patches from 3D reconstruction stage and different meshing structures from numerical analysis. The paper objective is to study the meshing influence on numerical analysis of a biomechanical structure to develop an optimized model. The 3D virtual parametrical model of the human ulna bone was obtained using a Computer Tomograph to acquire the bone images, 3D Mimics 10.01 image-processing software and Geomagic Studio 10 environment to convert the discrete 2D images into 3D volumes, and Solid Edge environment to convert into solid body. The four models having different number of surface patches were imported in ANASYS V12 environment to analyze and compare the biomechanical behavior of the ulna bone. Each model was meshed in two ways: default and imposing element size 1 mm. Numerical analysis evidenced significant differences for Equivalent Stress and Shear Stress. Regarding the values of maximum deformation, directional deformation, and normal stress, the greater values were resulted for element size 1 (in most cases).