The finite element analysis of osteoporotic lumbar vertebral body by influence of trabecular bone apparent density and thickness of cortical shell

Abstract

Osteoporosis causes the bone mass loss and increased fracture risk. This paper presents the modelling of osteoporotic human lumbar vertebrae L1 by employing finite elements method (FEM). The isolated inhomogeneous vertebral body is composed by cortical outer shell and cancellous bone. The level of osteoporotic contribution is characterised by reducing the thickness of cortical shell and elasticity modulus of cancellous bone using power-law dependence with apparent density. The strength parameters are evaluated on the basis of von Mises-Hencky yield criterion. Parametric study of osteoporotic degradation contains the static and nonlinear dynamic analysis of stresses that occur due to physiological load. Results of our investigation are presented in terms of nonlinear interdependence between stress and external load.