Experimental and numerical identification of cortical bone permeability

Bone is a complex system, and could be modeled as a poroelastic media. The aim of this paper is to identify the macroscopic value of the cortical bone permeability coefficient. A simple experimental method was designed in order to determine the permeability coefficient. Two bone samples taken from different ox femurs were filled with water, to place them under internal pressure. The measurements gave both the fluid flow through the lateral surfaces and the internal pressure. The originality of this work is the coupling between an experimental process and a structural computation performed with a finite element method. The mean cortical bone permeability coefficient identified was about k=1.1×10-13m2. This value tends to confirm other values found in the literature, obtained by different methods and often at macroscopic scale. It confirms also the domination of vascular permeability (Haversian and Volkmann's canals).