Consideration of Structural Behaviour of Bones in a Musculoskeletal Simulation Model

Bone and ligament injuries are one of the most common serious injuries in sports. Musculoskeletal simulation models are popular to investigate injury situations on a computer. The existing musculoskeletal simulation models typically consist of a rigid multi-body model (representing the skeleton) and muscles, which actuate the movement of the skeleton. Rigid segments prevent certain mechanical behaviour of bones from being taken into account. Further, bone injuries or effects on the bone structure during the simulated movements cannot be analysed. In this study a computational approach has been developed that allows for investigation of human movements with a simulation model considering the structural behaviour of bones. The rigid bones in the multi-body model have been replaced by Euler-Bernoulli beams. The Euler-Bernoulli beams were included in the simulation model using the floating frame of reference formulation. The developed approach has been applied to simulate a fall from a height of 1.7 m, in which a person lands with the ulna on the ground.