Influence Of Mesoscale Porosity On Cortical Bone Anisotropy. Investigations Via Asymptotic Homogenization

Main Category: Bones / Orthopaedics
Article Date: 16 Jul 2008 - 2:00 PDT

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Cortical bone is a hard tissue constituting approximately 80% of skeletal mass and is conveniently described as a two-phase composite material: a soft phase (fluid, soft tissues) distributed inside a hard matrix material.

The directional dependence of its material behaviour (anisotropy) arises primarily from two sources - anisotropy of the matrix and the so-called mesoscale porosity (Haversian canals and resorption cavities).

We analyse the importance of the latter by utilizing asymptotic homogenization theory in order to predict the local effective elastic moduli.

We include comparisons with existing methods and in particular the influence of non-circular pores and pore properties is assessed.

Journal of the Royal Society Interface

Journal of the Royal Society Interface is the Society's cross-disciplinary publication promoting research at the interface between the physical and life sciences. It offers rapidity, visibility and high-quality peer review and is ranked fifth in JCR's multidisciplinary category. The journal also incorporates Interface Focus, a peer-reviewed, themed supplement, each issue of which concentrates on a specific cross-disciplinary subject.

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