Parameter Identification of a Nonlocal Hardening-softening Elastoplastic Constitutive Law for Trabecular Bone

INTRODUCTION Investigations of bone stiffness and strength based on continuum finite element (FE) models have big advantages in terms of computational cost when compared to micro FE models. A nonlocal elastoplastic constitutive law with damage that leads to softening has recently been developed for the compressive behavior of trabecular bone [1]. Mechanical tests on human trabecular bone biopsies originating from several anatomical sites have been performed using a large-strain protocol in compression [2]. The aim of this work is to identify the parameters of the nonlocal constitutive law using the experimental data, and to present a three-dimensional application example.