Material Science damage accumulation models have been successfully applied to bone. Several different forms of bone adaptation models have been formulated. The purpose of this project is to combine a damage accumultion model with a bone adaptation function. Most of the bone adaptation models in the literature use lower and upper strain thresholds. That is, if the applied strain is inbetween the limits, no change in bone morphology results. Some of the models also incorporat set points or attractor states that bone inherently is trying to achieve. These set points can be a function of position or constant for the entire structure. The hypothesis behind the bone adaptation formulation used in this model is that there is no inherent set point or strain thresholds in bone. Rather, bone processes are affected by a stimulus and the results of the change in the rate process create an environment that reduces the effect of the stimulus. The formulation is in the spirit of the Davy-Hart model in that it attempts to reflect cellular mechanisms. The intent is to obtain values for the parameters sued in the model from basic histomorphometric measurements or cell culture experiments.
展开▼
