2006 年 2006 巻 p. 20060017
Medullary bone formed in estrogen-injected male quail has microscopic heterogeneity due to complex morphology of trabeculae and nanoscopic characteristics. The latter arise from alignment of biological apatite (BAp) crystallites and collagen fibrils. Hence, the mechanical functions of bones are not always directly related to BMD (Bone Mineral Density) but to the morphology of medullary bone as well as BAp orientation. In this paper, multi-scale modelling of the above-mentioned medullary bone is presented using the homogenization technique. Its verification by very large-scale FEM analysis using the Earth Simulator is also described. Mesh superposition method is employed for multi-scale in-vivo stress analysis under arbitrary disturbances.