Stress-based optimum and bone architecture

The well defined internal architecture of bone is thought to represent an optimum biological response to its mechanical environment. What is not clearly established however, is to what problem it is an optimal response. A common understanding is that the mechanical loading environment is a dominant factor that influences bone architecture. Many of the bone remodelling algorithms therefore employ the material strain as the stimulus, e.g. [1] and efforts have been seen in understanding the bone remodelling by applying structural optimisation, e.g. [2].