Adaptive bone re-modelling for optimization of porous structural components

Paper in proceeding, 2022

This paper presents a speculative application of adaptive bone-remodelling to generate porous structures for building components using a numerical meshless method. We hypothesize that such porous structures could then be 3d printed to achieve light weight and material efficient
building components. The meshless model is built up of particles that are connected by arms to their neighbours within a distance called a horizon. The re-modelling adaption is then based on the ratio of arms strain over average arm strain which is mapped to a third-order polynomial function and used to scale the arm stiffness in a way that mimics the resorption and densification of bone tissue. The method is shown to work rather well in the recreation of the structural patterns found in cross section of a femur bone. The translation to a geometry which can be manufactured with additive techniques is not tackled specifically and suggest a direction for further work.