Modeling fatigue damage evolution in bone.

A simple analytical model for damage evolution of bone fatigue is presented. A probabilistic method for characterizing the damage accumulation in terms of microcracks for bone fatigue was developed. The crack numerical density distributions were obtained from the Monte Carlo simulations with a Weibull distribution fit in this study. The results predicted from the present model are compared with existing experimental data and discussed. The quantitative relationship between stiffness loss, loading cycles and microdamage parameter developed in this study may be useful for fatigue life and failure stress predictions.