AN OPEN-SOURCE MULTI-SOLVER VALIDATED FEMUR MODEL

BackgroundNumerical modelling using Finite Element (FE) Analysis has become ubiquitous in orthopaedic biomechanics, with both commercial and freely available packages widely used. Three FE packages in particular have gained popularity: Abaqus (Simulia); Ansys (ANSYS, Inc.) and FEBio (University of Utah). Although FEBio is now well established, its developers advise that comparisons should be made against more extensively tested software before trusting its results for specific problems. The aim of the study to conduct a comparison of mesh convergence and to provide validated open-source models of the femur for use all three FE packages.MethodsThree-dimensional FE models of the femur were created in Abaqus. To ensure that all aspects of the models were identical, custom scripts were developed to import the models into other packages. Mesh convergence studies were conducted for each solver using seven mesh densities for linear tetrahedral elements (up to 2 million). Experimental validation used fourth gener...