Cohesive Finite Element Modeling of Mouse Bone Fracture

INTRODUCTION A fracture mechanics based approach has been recently proposed to measure the changes in fracture toughness of small animal bones due to aging, disease, and treatments for osteoporosis [1-3]. In contrast to standard strength tests, such tests require a smaller sample size [2] and provide a measure of material level changes [2,3]. Here we present a complementary computational approach that can predict the fracture behavior and damage evolution at the whole bone level.