A Computer Model for Bone Growth

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses a computer modeling of bone growth and development. A computer model or simulation of growth and development is, hopefully, a method of predicting. As is typical of modeling, in general, in simulating the growth and development of bone, a feedback or loop arrangement was utilized in order to have the computer “grow the bone.” The model starts out with a small bone and after a number of iterations or cycles around the loop, it comes out with a large bone. In this particular model, the factor taken into consideration was the effects of mechanical stress on the growth of bone. A consequence of so restricting the model is to limit the number of other factors, but, in a simulation, it is best to study as few factors as possible at a time. In the model of bone growth and development, it was assumed that the growth of the bone would be related to the stress induced in it by external forces. The chapter further reviews the validity of this model.