International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET), ISSN 2278 0882

Volume 3 Issue 1, April 2014

Three-Dimensional Finite Element Analysis of Human Tibia Bone

Namrata Phate1, Raji Nareliya2, Veerendra Kumar3, Amrita Francis4
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Government Engineering College, Jabalpur, M.P., India.
2
Peoples College of Engineering and Technology, peoples university, Bhopal, M.P., India.
4
Takshshila Institute of Engineering and Technology, Jabalpur, M.P., India.

1, 3

ABSTRACT- In this investigation, three-dimensional finite element analysis is used to evaluate the stresses and
displacements of human tibia bone under physiological loading. Three-dimensional finite element models obtained by
using computed tomography (CT) data which consisting thorough description about the material properties of bone
and density of bone tissues which is very essential to create accurate and realistic geometry of a bone structure.
Therefore, in this study, CT data of 17 years and 27 years old male, and 37 years old female patients are used to
develop three-dimensional finite element models of the left proximal tibia bone, and half of an average body weight
65 kg (318.825N) applied to each model of tibia bone. Finite Element Analysis conducted to calculate the Equivalent
Von-Mises Stress, Maximum Principal Stress, Total Deformation and Fatigue Tool from the whole proximal tibia
bone and comparing the results. These analyzed results may provide a great foundation for further studies of bone
injury prevention, bone transplant and subject-specific fracture mechanism.
KEYWORDS- Computed Tomography, Human Tibia Bone, FE Analysis.
I.

INTRODUCTION-The tibia is a long hollow leg bone, which has an expanded metaphysic and an epiphysis
at both ends of a thick-walled tabular diaphysis. The proximal end of the human tibia displays very special
characteristics; it is form by the superior base of a truncated cone. The plateau presents two condyles, internal
(medial) and external (lateral), which articulated with the medial and lateral condyles of the femur
respectively. The external plate is smaller but higher than the internal one, displaying a convex shape. The
internal plate is concave. Going down, the tibia narrows into the diaphysis, which is also called the shaft of the
tibia, and then expands again towards the distal end of the tibia that articulates the ankle [3]. The Finite
Element Method (FEM) has been used widely in biomechanics to predict stress and strain in complicated
systems, load transfer in prosthesis, effects of the internal loads and contact condition on the interface between
prosthetic socket and residual limb [6, 8, 4]. Many studies have suggested that the compressive strength and
elasticity of trabecular bone is related to its density [1, 2, 14]. The shape of the long bone diaphyses is
influenced by bending and torsional loads [10]. In some investigations Authors noted that the resistance to
axial loading (compression) was the least critical determinant of diaphyseal shape in lower limbs bones [11].
Axial loading of the leg induces a bending moment in tibia that creates tensile & compressive strains in the
portion of tibia bone. This phenomenon has been documented in cadavers [7, 12], mathematical study has
been carried out to analyze mechanical response when bone specimen is subjected to an axial loading and
under bending moment [5] and this type of loading is prevalent mechanism of tibial fracture [13].

II.

OBJECT AND TECHNIQUES- A 3-D FE models of the tibia bone has been developed in this study to
observe the stress distribution and bone deformation under physiological loading to predict the mechanical
behavior of bone which is very necessary to the transplants of bone, and prosthesis design. In this section,
computed tomography (CT) images are used to create 3-D FE models of tibia bone and surface mesh also
generated in MIMICS. The volumetric meshing has been done by using ABAQUS and volumetric meshed
models imported in MIMICS to the material assignment; ANSYS is used for the Finite Element Analysis.
1. CONSTRUCTION OF 3-D FE MODELS OF TIBIA
1.1 IMAGE ACQUISITION- The CT scan of individual 17 yrs and 27 yrs old male, and 37 yrs female patients
are taken to the realistic geometrical information of proximal tibia bone which was directly stored in the form
of Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) file. GE ultrafast High Resolution multislice
CT Scanner is used to find out the CT scanning of 17 yrs and 27 yrs male, and 37 yrs female patients which
consisting total number of 909, 857, and 957 images respectively, pixel size 0.703 mm, 0.9395 mm, and
0.8047 mm respectively, slice thickness of 0.4 mm and resolution of 512 x 512.

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International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET), ISSN 2278 0882
Volume 3 Issue 1, April 2014
1.2 3-D MODELS OF TIBIA- The bone geometry of 17 yrs and 27 yrs old male, and 37 yrs old female patient is
constructed by using computerized tomographies imaging for the comparative study and MODEL 1, MODEL
2, and MODEL 3 obtained respectively. The CT data is directly converted into the MIMICS in order to
generate three-dimensional representation and segmentation of CT images, and 3D rendering of objects.
Firstly, the segmentation object is defined in the pixels to identify the whole tibia bone, and thresholding is
used to put the bone tissue which was different from the default range from 226HU to 3071HU, and then
contour of bone tissue is segmented to every layer. Therefore, different regions were segmented by means of
region growing, the whole tibia tissues are extracted to all CT images and 3-D models of tibia bone are
constructed by 3-D calculation object from mask tool as shown in fig 1, which also converts the 2-D images
into 3-D model by using an interpolation algorithm. Thus, number of pixels is modified after every
applications of tool such as region growing, 3-D calculation of mask, edit mask. Here edit mask tool is used to
fill the cavity and to separate the hard tissues like fibula, ankle joints from the tibia.

Figure 1. Three-dimensional models of human tibia bone

1.3 CREATION OF 3-D FE MODELS- More reliable 3D FE models of tibia bone are reconstructed from
surface meshing as shown in fig 2. In MIMICS, FEA re-meshing tool existing to generate surface mesh from
the automatic re-meshing operation and created equilateral triangles to 3D models of bone. Some other
operations are also performed to improve the quality of triangles and reduce the triangles of 3D models.

Figure 2. Surface meshing of 3-D Models in MIMICS

The 3D surface meshed models which is created by FEA remeshing in MIMICS, imported to the FE software
ABAQUS v 6.10 for the volumetric meshing as shown in fig 3. In ABAQUS, mesh edit tool is used to convert the
triangular elements of surface mesh into the four node linear tetrahedron elements (C3D4). These four node linear
tetrahedron elements for the model 1, model 2, and model 3 are: 417504, 515619, and 438837 respectively.

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International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET), ISSN 2278 0882
Volume 3 Issue 1, April 2014

Figure 3. Volumetric meshing of 3-D Models in ABAQUS

2. MATERIAL ASSIGNMENT- The volumetric meshed models from ABAQUS are again imported into the
MIMICS for the material assignment in the tibia bone as shown in fig 4.

Figure 4. Volumetric meshed 3-D models from ABAQUS imported in MIMICS

All bones in the human body are composed of compact (cortical) and spongy (trabecular) bone, and their
material properties are different to each other then it is very difficult to assign homogenise material properties to each
bone together. In MIMICS, we have considered uniform method to assign material properties which is calculated from
gray values of CT data, and these gray values are defined in this study, realistic material properties to each model of
tibia bone with ten materials as shown in fig 5.

Figure 5. Material Assignment in MIMICS to 3-D Models of tibia

3. 3-D FE ANALYSIS- 3-Dimensional volumetric meshed and material assigned finite element models of the
left proximal tibia bone are converted into ANSYS v 14.0 for the Finite Element Analysis under physiological
conditions. The structure of the tibia bone is very complex in shape and uniformly undergoes in all the three
planes. Therefore, the 3D FE Models are first imported in FE Modeler and then transfer to static structural
module in ANSYS for Finite Element Analysis.
3.1 BOUNDARY CONDITIONS AND LOADS- In normal position, there are no muscle forces acting in the
lower limb then whole body weight is equally distributed in both left and right tibia bone. In this investigation,
half of an average body weight 65kg (318.825N) is applied on the superior surface of left tibia to all models,
bottom surface of tibia models is completely constrained in all directions as shown in fig 6.
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International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET), ISSN 2278 0882
Volume 3 Issue 1, April 2014

Figure 6. Boundary conditions applied to 3-D Models for FEA.

III.

RESULTS- The Finite Element Analysis calculated the Equivalent Von-Mises stress, maximum principal
stress, safety factor and total deformation in 17 years and 27 years old male, and 37 years old female patients
as shown in fig 7, and compared the results. A constant Fatigue life of 1e9 is found from the whole proximal
tibia for all models of 17 years and 27 years old male, and 37 years old female patients.

17 yrs male

27 yrs male

37 yrs female
12.431 min
15 min

Safety Factor
3.5728 min

Total Deformation

0.032 mm
0.00074 mm
0.142 mm

Maximum Principal Stress

3.5262 MPa
3.9094 MPa
25.028 MPa

Equivalent Von Mises Stress

6.9341 MPa
3.31 MPa
24.126 MPa

Figure 7. Results of left tibia bone of 17 years male, 27 years male, and 37 years female patient at 318.825 N

IV.

CONCLUSION- The current investigation concluded that the following points according to above whole
study are:
FE Analysis is an appropriate method in biomechanical performance of various implant design as well as
finding the main causes of long- term bone fracture, bone resorption for clinical practice.
Consequently, FEA can be used to investigate the developed stresses and contact conditions at the bone
physiological loading in order to determine the biological response of the bone. Moreover, FEA provides the
optimized implant design and proper material selection in load bearing implants.
From the above investigation, Results found that the Von-Mises Stress and Maximum Principal Stress is
higher in 37 yrs female than 17 yrs male but least in 27 yrs male patient at the same half of the body weight,

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International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET), ISSN 2278 0882
Volume 3 Issue 1, April 2014
the maximum deformation calculated in 37 yrs female than 17 yrs male and least in 27 yrs male patients, but
the highest safety factor found in 27 yrs male than the 17 yrs male and least in 37 yrs female patients.
The whole study obtained the results by the application of half of the body weight at left proximal tibia bone
of 17 yrs male and 27 yrs male patient, and 37 yrs female patient, the results increase in total deformation and
stresses with the increasing of patients age group. Although even, increased results in safety factor are
observed with the younger age group.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors are thankful to Dr. Pushpraj Bhatele for providing medical imaging data. We are also thankful to Dr.
(Mrs.) Shobha Katheria, Principal Medical Officer, Ordnance Factory Hospital, Itarsi, M.P. India, for providing all the
technical support to carry out this work up to this shape. All the analysis is carried out in the CAD lab of Department
of Mechanical Engineering, Government Engineering College, Jabalpur, M.P. India.

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