Students: Kylie Frew
Project: Virtual Mechanical Testing for Non-Destructive Assessment of Bone Regeneration in Large Ovine Tibial Defects | View Poster (PDF)
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Advisor: Hannah Dailey
Abstract
Virtual mechanical testing is an image-based approach to evaluating bone healing that preserves the sample for other analyses, such as histology. Previously, we developed and validated computational methods for measuring the virtual torsional rigidity (VTR) of intact and healing ovine osteotomies. The objective of this study was to evaluate the robustness of image-based virtual mechanical testing as a surrogate for physical mechanical tests by using a new slow-healing large-defect limb salvage model. Data from N = 32 operated sheep tibiae with 30-mm ostectomies were analyzed. We created subject-specific finite element models from in-vivo computed tomography (CT) scans and assigned a piecewise material model. The results showed a high and strong correlation between the torsional rigidities determined from measured biomechanical test data and virtual mechanical testing. These findings demonstrate that virtual mechanical testing can serve as a reliable alternative for labor-intensive physical biomechanical tests for a wide range of dataset parameters.
About Kylie Frew
Kylie Frew is a senior mechanical engineering student at Lehigh University. She is currently an undergraduate research assistant in the Dailey Ortho Lab, where she develops computational methods to analyze the mechanical properties of healing bone. After this semester, she will continue her education by pursuing her PhD in mechanical engineering. In her free time, Kylie enjoys crocheting and playing the piano.