Efficient numerical analysis of bone remodelling

Abstract

This paper presents a formulation for the three-dimensional numerical simulation of mechanically regulated bone adaptation. Attention is focussed on a phenomenologically-based approach to bone remodelling that can be used as a computationally efficient tool to provide insight into the overall response of bone to mechanical loading. A discretisation approach is developed based on a hybrid finite element formulation where displacement, stress and density fields are approximated independently. The paper also discusses a solution algorithm tailored for shared memory multi-core computers. The performance of the model is demonstrated by two numerical examples.