A limit analysis approach for the prediction of the human proximal femur ultimate load

A limit analysis numerical procedure for the determination of a lower bound on the ultimate load of the human proximal femur is presented. The procedure, already applied by the authors in different contexts, is based on a simplified 3D geometrical model of the human femur and on the assumption of a few geometric and material data available in the relevant literature. The perfectly plastic behaviour of the human bone, due to phenomena starting at molecular scale, and the orthotropic behaviour of the main human femur tissues, trabecular and cortical, allows to assume a yield surface of Tsai-Wu-type for its constitutive description. The effectiveness of the promoted numerical approach is validated by comparison of the obtained results with experimental findings on in-vitro tests of human femurs.