Title: Evaluation of fatigue crack growing in cortical bone using the BEM

Authors: B. Gamez, E. Divo, A.J. Kassab, M. Cerrolaza

Addresses: Centro de Biomecanica, Facultad de Ingenieria, Universidad de Carabobo, Codigo Postal 2005, Naguanagua, Venezuela. ' Department of Engineering Technology, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, 32816-2450, USA. ' Department of Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Engineering, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, 32816, USA. ' Instituto Nacional de Bioingenieria, Universidad Central de Venezuela Codigo Postal 1053, Caracas, Venezuela

Abstract: An effective and efficient methodology for the fatigue cracks growth evaluation in human cortical bone is presented. The solution is based on the elastic linear fracture mechanics. For the evaluation of cracked boundary the dual boundary element method is used. The solution is based on the development and application of a computational algorithm to obtain stresses and displacements on the boundary and the crack-tip stress intensity factor for elements under fatigue load. For the fatigue regimen, the principles of Paris|s law with cracks increments are employed. Finally, the results in cortical bone are compared with available experimental results.

Keywords: stress intensity factor; fatigue cracks; crack growth; cortical bone; boundary element method; dual BEM; elastic linear fracture mechanics.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHTM.2010.034090

International Journal of Healthcare Technology and Management, 2010 Vol.11 No.3, pp.202 - 221

Published online: 12 Jul 2010 *

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