High resolution bone material property assignment yields robust subject specific finite element models of complex thin bone structures

Accurate finite element (FE) modeling of complex skeletal anatomy requires high resolution in both meshing and the heterogeneous mapping of material properties onto the generated mesh. This study introduces Node-based elastic Modulus Assignment with Partial-volume correction (NMAP) as a new approach for FE material property assignment to thin bone structures. The NMAP approach incorporates point spread function based deblurring of CT images, partial-volume correction of CT image voxel intensities and anisotropic interpolation and mapping of CT intensity assignment to FE mesh nodes. The NMAP procedure combined with a derived craniomaxillo-facial skeleton (CMFS) specific density-isotropic elastic modulus relationship was applied to produce specimen-specific FE models of 6 cadaveric heads. The NMAP procedure successfully generated models of the complex thin bone structures with surface elastic moduli reflective of cortical bone material properties. The specimen-specific CMFS FE models were able to accurately predict experimental strains measured under in vitro temporalis and masseter muscle loading (r=0.93, slope=1.01, n=5). The strength of this correlation represents a robust validation for CMFS FE modeling that can be used to better understand load transfer in this complex musculoskeletal system. The developed methodology offers a systematic process-flow able to address the complexity of the CMFS that can be further applied to create high-fidelity models of any musculoskeletal anatomy.