INVESTIGATION OF THE STIFFNESS OF TRABECULAE BY REPRESENTATIVE VOLUME ELEMENT (RVE) APPROACH

Based on the concept of the fabric tensor to represent the microstructure of the cancellous bone, a more sophisticated idealized representative volume element (RVE) model is introduced for cancellous bone. It is assumed that the trabeculae distribution in the principal direction of the fabric tensor is proportional to the associated eigenvalue of the tensor. With this understanding, the present model provides a consistent and quantitative way to describe various kinds of microstructures from rod like trab...