Electro-mechanical behavior of wet bone--Part II: Wave propagation.

In this study, a general mixture model, which was developed for wet bone, has been used to analyze the flexural wave propagation in long bones. The electrical conduction is taken into account as well as the piezo-electric properties of bone tissue. The general formulation is simplified and certain assumptions made to yield a particular set of equations. The solution of the magnetic induction vector outside the bone due to the mechanical wave propagation is obtained. The results are compared with a similar problem using dry bone. The results indicate that the electro-mechanical properties of bone tissue could be used for monitoring the rate of fracture healing in long bones.