A Validated Skeleton-based Finite Element Mesh for Parametric Analysis of Trabecular Bone Competence

The structure of trabecular bone has a large influence on the strength of bones and is affected by metabolic bone diseases such as osteoporosis. The reduction in bone competence is often investigated through the use of μCT-based finite element (FE) models. Such models are necessarily large in order to capture the complex trabecular architecture and require large amounts of computational time. Furthermore, these models are not well-suited to assess the influence of changes in local structural properties, which can occur in bone diseases. In order to reduce the computation time and allow for parametric analyses, the aim of this study was to develop a skeleton-based FE-model in which individual trabeculae are represented by single elements.

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