Finite Element Analysis of Bone Remodeling. Implementation of a Remodeling Algorithm in MATLAB and ANSYS

Master's Thesis from the year 2006 in the subject Medicine - Biomedical Engineering, grade: 1.0, Technical University of Munich (LS Statik), course: Master of Science of Computational Mechanics, language: English, abstract: The process of adaptive bone remodeling can be described mathematically and simulated in a computer model, integrated with the finite element method. The main focus of this thesis is the implementation of a bone remodeling algorithm in MATLAB and ANSYS on the basis of FEM. The strain energy density is used as mechanical stimulus. The cortical and trabecular bone are described as continuous materials with variable density. This thesis can be divided into four main parts. The first part is due to the material properties of cortical and trabecular bone. The second part is about the remodeling theory and gives an historical review of the developed numerical approaches up to now. The implementation of the remodeling algorithm in ANSYS and MATLAB as well as its validation is topic of part three. In last main part, the algorithm is applied to a 2D FE-model of a human proximal femur.