Three-Dimensional Bone Adaptation of the Proximal Femur

The bone remodeling of a three-dimensional model of the proximal femur is considered. The bone adaptation is numerically described as an evolution in time formulated such that the structural change goes in an optimal direction within each time step for the optimal boundary conditions. In the bone remodeling scheme is included the memory of past loadings to account for the delay in the bone response to the load changes.

In order to get a realistic bone adaptation process, the bone structure at the onset of the remodeling needs to be realistic too. A start design is obtained by structural optimization for maximum stiffness with multiple loading conditions