The simulation of bone healing process of fractured tibia applied with composite bone plates according to the diaphyseal oblique angle and plate modulus

This paper presents the simulation of the bone healing process of a fractured tibia with oblique angles according to plate modulus and initial loading condition by FE analysis. To simulate tissue differentiation and the pathway of development of the curing cells during the healing process, a mechano-regulation theory on deviatoric strain is introduced. For the iterative calculation to determine cell phenotype during the healing period, a user subroutine was programmed by Python code. The analysis result revealed that the healing efficiency was strongly affected by the initial loading condition and the coupling of the plate's modulus with the oblique angle. By FE analysis, the most appropriate plate modulus for each initial load condition and oblique angle was suggested. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.