Fan Ruoxun, Gong He, Zhang Xianbin, Liu Jun, Jia Zhengbin, Zhu Dong
Department of Engineering Mechanics, Jilin University, Nanling Campus, Changchun 130025, China; Department of Automobile and Construction Engineering, Beihua University, Jilin 132013, China.
Department of Engineering Mechanics, Jilin University, Nanling Campus, Changchun 130025, China.
Comput Math Methods Med. 2016;2016:3495152. doi: 10.1155/2016/3495152. Epub 2016 Jun 15.
The elderly are more likely to suffer from fracture because of age-related trabecular bone loss. Different bone loss locations and patterns have different effects on bone mechanical properties. Extended finite element method (XFEM) can simulate fracture process and was suited to investigate the effects of bone loss on trabecular bone. Age-related bone loss is indicated by trabecular thinning and loss and may occur at low-strain locations or other random sites. Accordingly, several ideal normal and aged trabecular bone models were created based on different bone loss locations and patterns; then, fracture processes from crack initiation to complete failure of these models were observed by XFEM; finally, the effects of different locations and patterns on trabecular bone were compared. Results indicated that bone loss occurring at low-strain locations was more detrimental to trabecular bone than that occurring at other random sites; meanwhile, the decrease in bone strength caused by trabecular loss was higher than that caused by trabecular thinning, and the effects of vertical trabecular loss on mechanical properties were more severe than horizontal trabecular loss. This study provided a numerical method to simulate trabecular bone fracture and distinguished different effects of the possible occurrence of bone loss locations and patterns on trabecular bone.
由于与年龄相关的小梁骨丢失,老年人更容易发生骨折。不同的骨丢失位置和模式对骨力学性能有不同的影响。扩展有限元法(XFEM)可以模拟骨折过程,适用于研究骨丢失对小梁骨的影响。与年龄相关的骨丢失表现为小梁变薄和丢失,可能发生在低应变部位或其他随机部位。因此,基于不同的骨丢失位置和模式创建了几个理想的正常和老化小梁骨模型;然后,通过XFEM观察这些模型从裂纹萌生到完全破坏的骨折过程;最后,比较了不同位置和模式对小梁骨的影响。结果表明,发生在低应变部位的骨丢失比发生在其他随机部位的骨丢失对小梁骨更有害;同时,小梁丢失引起的骨强度下降高于小梁变薄引起的骨强度下降,垂直小梁丢失对力学性能的影响比水平小梁丢失更严重。本研究提供了一种模拟小梁骨骨折的数值方法,并区分了可能发生的骨丢失位置和模式对小梁骨的不同影响。