A method for fracture toughness measurement in trabecular bone using computed tomography, image correlation and finite element methods

Liye Yan; Ahmet Cinar; Shaocheng Ma; Richard Abel; Ulrich Hansen; Thomas James Marrow

doi:10.1016/j.jmbbm.2020.103838

A method for fracture toughness measurement in trabecular bone using computed tomography, image correlation and finite element methods

J Mech Behav Biomed Mater. 2020 Sep:109:103838. doi: 10.1016/j.jmbbm.2020.103838. Epub 2020 May 1.

Authors

Liye Yan¹, Ahmet Cinar¹, Shaocheng Ma², Richard Abel², Ulrich Hansen³, Thomas James Marrow⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Materials, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PH, UK.
² MSk Laboratory, Department of Surgery and Cancer, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College, London, SW7 2AZ, UK.
³ Mechanical Engineering Department, Imperial College London, SW7 2AZ, UK.
⁴ Department of Materials, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PH, UK. Electronic address: James.marrow@materials.ox.ac.uk.

PMID: 32543404
DOI: 10.1016/j.jmbbm.2020.103838

Abstract

The fracture resistance of load-bearing trabecular bone is adversely affected by diseases such as osteoporosis. However, there are few published measurements of trabecular bone fracture toughness due to the difficulty of conducting reliable tests in small specimens of this highly porous material. A new approach is demonstrated that uses digital volume correlation of X-ray computed tomographs to measure 3D displacement fields in which the crack shape and size can be objectively identified using a phase congruency analysis. The criteria for crack propagation, i.e. fracture toughness, can then be derived by finite element simulation, with knowledge of the elastic properties.

Keywords: Computed X-ray tomography; Crack measurement; Digital volume correlation; Fracture toughness; Trabecular bone.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Cancellous Bone / diagnostic imaging
Finite Element Analysis
Fractures, Bone* / diagnostic imaging
Humans
Osteoporosis*
Tomography, X-Ray Computed