Continuum remodeling revisited

Recent research effort in bone remodeling has been directed toward describing interstitial fluid flow in the lacuno-canalicular system and its potential as a cellular stimulus. Regardless of the precise contents of the mechanotransduction “black box”, it seems clear that the fluid flow on which the remodeling is predicated cannot occur under static loading conditions. In an attempt to help continuum remodeling simulations catch up with cellular and subcellular research, this paper presents a simple, strain rate driven remodeling algorithm for density allocation and principal material direction rotations. An explicit finite element code was written and deployed on a supercomputer which discretizes the remodeling process and uses an objective hypoelastic constitutive law to simulate trabecular realignment. Results indicate that a target strain rate for this dynamic approach is |D _I ^*| = 1.7% per second which seems reasonable when compared to observed strain rates. Simulations indicate that a morpho-mechanically realistic three-dimensional bone can be synthesized by applying a few dynamic loads at the envelope of common daily physiological rates, even with no static loading component.