Parametric investigation of the effects of load level on fatigue crack growth in trabecular bone based on artificial neural network computation

This study reports the development of an artificial neural network computation model to predict the accumulation of crack density and crack length in cancellous bone under a cyclic load. The model was then applied to conduct a parametric investigation into the effects of load level on fatigue crack accumulation in cancellous bone. The method was built in three steps: (1) conducting finite element simulations to predict fatigue growth of different three-dimensional micro-computed tomography cancellous bone specimens considering input combinations based on a factorial experimental design; (2) performing a training stage of an artificial neural network based on the results of step 1; and (3) applying the trained artificial neural network to rapidly predict the crack density and the crack length growth for cancellous bone under a cyclic loading for a given applied apparent strain, cycle frequency, bone volume fraction, bone density and apparent elastic modulus.