COMPACT-BONE - NUMERICAL-SIMULATION OF MECHANICAL CHARACTERISTICS

One of the main difficulties encountered in the numerical simulation o f the anisotropic elastic characteristics of compact bone is to accoun t for the Haversian microstructure when determining the overall macros copic behavior. Engineering analyses of such problems are usually base d on 'homogenized approximations'. Compact bone is not exactly a compo site material, but rather a heterogeneous medium which exhibits a mult iscale composite structure. If the homogenized approximation is precis e enough (and this is true for the mathematical theory of homogenizati on), it is then possible to simulate the macroscopic behavior from the microscopic mechanical characteristics. The present paper is devoted to such mathematical developments. Moreover, the 'inverse simulation' allows the computation of the microscopic stress fields in the haversi an structure from the macroscopic stress fields, taking into account b one microstructure.