Elastic Interactions of Osteon-Crack Penetration in Longitudinal Fracture

Abstract

Longitudinal fracture of cortical bone involves complex elastic interaction between interstitial matrix, cement line, osteon and Haversian canal. Based on Kachanov theory of microcrack and hole interaction, there is effective impact interaction between different elastic moduli, and interaction between stress risers. This paper aims to numerically evaluate the effect of different Young’s modulus in osteonal system structure for four-phase constituents (anterior, posterior, medial and lateral) in Haversian bone system particularly in longitudinal crack direction. The interaction between single crack and Haversian canal in crack-osteon penetration process is analysed based on linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) with plain strain condition. Stress interaction intensities are compared to Brown and Srawley empirical formulation. The simulation results showed that the elastic interaction before the osteon penetration is consistent and stable.