The Influence of Bone Morphology on Fracture Toughness on the Human Femur and Tibia

Authors

Y. A. Yeni
C. Brown
Timothy L. Norman, Cedarville UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-1997

Journal Title

Bone

Volume

21

Issue

5

First Page

453

Last Page

459

DOI

10.1016/S8756-3282(97)00173-7

Abstract

The influence of porosity, osteon density, osteonal area, osteonal lamellar area, osteon size, and haversian canal size on the tension and shear fracture toughness, that is, the mode I and mode II strain energy release rate (G_Ic and G_IIc), respectively, were investigated for the human femur and the tibia. The results suggest that porosity and osteon density were the best explanatory morphological parameters for G_Ic and G_IIc. Both G_Ic and G_IIc significantly decrease with increasing porosity. They also increase with increasing osteon density, the increase being significant for the femur only. Morphological parameters, altogether, can explain 49%–68% of the variation in fracture toughness. We concluded that, although there must be other factors such as biochemical components and microdamage, osteon morphology has an important influence on fracture resistance of the cortical bone.

Keywords

Bone mechanics, fracture, morphology, human femur, human tibia

Recommended Citation

Yeni, Y. A.; Brown, C.; and Norman, Timothy L., "The Influence of Bone Morphology on Fracture Toughness on the Human Femur and Tibia" (1997). Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications. 226.
https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/engineering_and_computer_science_publications/226