Repository logo

Infoscience

  • English
  • French
Log In
Logo EPFL, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne

Infoscience

  • English
  • French
Log In
  1. Home
  2. Academic and Research Output
  3. Journal articles
  4. Theoretical bounds for the influence of tissue-level ductility on the apparent-level strength of human trabecular bone
 
research article

Theoretical bounds for the influence of tissue-level ductility on the apparent-level strength of human trabecular bone

Nawathe, Shashank
•
Juillard, Frederic
•
Keaveny, Tony M.
2013
Journal Of Biomechanics

The role of tissue-level post-yield behavior on the apparent-level strength of trabecular bone is a potentially important aspect of bone quality. To gain insight into this issue, we compared the apparent-level strength of trabecular bone for the hypothetical cases of fully brittle versus fully ductile failure behavior of the trabecular tissue. Twenty human cadaver trabecular bone specimens (5 mm cube; BV/TV=6-36%) were scanned with micro-CT to create 3D finite element models (22-micron element size). For each model, apparent-level strength was computed assuming either fully brittle (fracture with no tissue ductility) or fully ductile (yield with no tissue fracture) tissue-level behaviors. We found that the apparent-level ultimate strength for the brittle behavior was only about half the value of the apparent-level 0.2%-offset yield strength for the ductile behavior, and the ratio of these brittle to ductile strengths was almost constant (mean +/- SD=0.56 +/- 0.02; n=20; R-2=0.99 between the two measures). As a result of this small variation, although the ratio of brittle to ductile strengths was positively correlated with the bone volume fraction (R-2=0.44, p=0.01) and structure model index (SMI, R-2=0.58, p < 0.01), these effects were small. Mechanistically, the fully ductile behavior resulted in a much higher apparent-level strength because in this case about 16-fold more tissue was required to fail than for the fully brittle behavior; also, there was more tensile- than compressive-mode of failure at the tissue level for the fully brittle behavior. We conclude that, in theory, the apparent-level strength behavior of human trabecular bone can vary appreciably depending on whether the tissue fails in a fully ductile versus fully brittle manner, and this effect is largely constant despite appreciable variations in bone volume fraction and microarchitecture. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  • Details
  • Metrics
Type
research article
DOI
10.1016/j.jbiomech.2013.02.011
Web of Science ID

WOS:000318583800011

Author(s)
Nawathe, Shashank
Juillard, Frederic
Keaveny, Tony M.
Date Issued

2013

Publisher

Elsevier Sci Ltd

Published in
Journal Of Biomechanics
Volume

46

Issue

7

Start page

1293

End page

1299

Subjects

Finite element analysis

•

Bone quality

•

Brittle

•

Ductile

•

Microarchitecture

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
IPSB  
Available on Infoscience
October 1, 2013
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/95480
Logo EPFL, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne
  • Contact
  • infoscience@epfl.ch

  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Instagram
  • Follow us on LinkedIn
  • Follow us on X
  • Follow us on Youtube
AccessibilityLegal noticePrivacy policyCookie settingsEnd User AgreementGet helpFeedback

Infoscience is a service managed and provided by the Library and IT Services of EPFL. © EPFL, tous droits réservés