CONCLUSION FOR ELLIPSE PARAMETRIC STUDY

Table:

Eccentricity Max Stress Max Strain Modulus Toughness Bending Stiffness

E=0 344 0.0165 22481 2.89 50582.25
E = 0.4 358 0.016 22375 2.86 50343.75
E = 0.6 321 0.0155 20709 2.48 46595.25
E = 0.8 604 0.028 21571 8.45 48534.75
E = 0.95 747 0.034 21342 12.6 48019.50

In this section of our analysis, we changed the eccentricity of osteons from 0 (original model
experimentally verified) onwards in the following order — 0, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 0.95.

Our premise was based on the crack to be deflected and circumscribe the curvature of osteons so as to
dissipate as much fracture energy as possible. As we changed the eccentricity of the ellipse from 0
(perfect circle) towards 1, we got more and more elongated curves. Further, we tried to keep the mean
radius (the mean of major and minor axes) and hence the area to be constant so as to ensure that our
results are varying only due to eccentricity changes.

Clearly, the result did not seem to follow a linear pattern in the whole set but a pattern is discernible if
we divide the set into two — low eccentricity (0, 0.4, 0.6) and high eccentricity (0.8, 0.95) osteons.
Among the low eccentricity osteons, we can see a consistently decreasing toughness (energy possible to
be absorbed before fracture). Possibly it is because the crack circumscribed the osteon better when the
circular curve was perfect. As the radii around the circumference of the ellipse register more and more
variation, the crack deflection and hence the toughness tends to decrease.

However, this trend reverses with high eccentricity osteons, When the eccentricity is high, the osteon
boundary is too elongated to allow any circumscription around itself. In these high eccentricity cases,
higher elongation seems to act as a longer trap for the crack which holds the crack in itself for a longer
time. This leads to a positive increase in toughness with eccentricity in the high eccentricity osteons.
Also, maximum stress follows exactly the same pattern of negative and positive correlation with
eccentricity for low-eccentricity and high-eccentricity osteons respectively.

Clearly, we can see a similar trend for bending stiffness. Due to the fracture dynamics mentioned above,
we can see a negative correlation between eccentricity and bending stiffness for low eccentricity
ellipses. But the Bending stiffness increases when the eccentricity goes higher.