In this section
@article{Vasooja:2026:10.3390/biomechanics6030063,
author = {Vasooja, D and Cinar, A and Mostafavi, M and Marrow, J and Reinhard, C and Hansen, U and Abel, R},
doi = {10.3390/biomechanics6030063},
journal = {Biomechanics},
title = {Quantifying brittle crack opening in human trabecular bone using synchrotron XCT-DVC},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biomechanics6030063},
volume = {6},
year = {2026}
}
TY - JOUR
AB - Background/Objectives: Trabecular bone exhibits brittle behaviour governed by microscale deformation and damage, yet quantifying crack progression is difficult because classical fracture-mechanics approaches do not apply to architecturally discontinuous porous tissue. This pilot study evaluates whether synchrotron X-ray computed tomography (XCT) combined with digital volume correlation (DVC) can provide a practical, geometry-normalised approach for quantifying crack-opening behaviour in human trabecular bone. Methods: Semicylindrical specimens from femoral heads of hip-fracture donors (n = 5) and non-fracture controls (n = 5) underwent stepwise three-point bending during XCT imaging. Full-field displacement maps were used to measure crack mouth opening displacement (CMOD), crack length (a), and their ratio CMOD/a, used here as a geometry-normalised comparative descriptor of brittle response rather than an intrinsic material property. Automated phase-congruency crack detection (PCCD) was compared with manual measurement. Results: XCT–DVC resolved three-dimensional displacement discontinuities during crack initiation and propagation in all specimens. Hip-fracture donors exhibited significantly lower critical crack-opening ratios (CMOD/a) than Controls (median 0.31 vs. 0.47; p = 0.008) and reached instability at lower applied loads. Total crack extension (Δa) was similar between groups. Automated crack tracking using phase-congruency-based segmentation showed excellent agreement with manual measurements (r2 = 0.98), supporting reliable extraction of crack geometry from DVC displacement fields. Conclusions: In this small pilot sample, XCT–DVC provided a feasible, geometry-normalised approach for comparing crack-opening behaviour where classical fracture-mechanics parameters cannot be applied. The close agreement between automated and manual crack measurements supports the reproducibility of the displacement-based measurement pipeline. The lower criti
AU - Vasooja,D
AU - Cinar,A
AU - Mostafavi,M
AU - Marrow,J
AU - Reinhard,C
AU - Hansen,U
AU - Abel,R
DO - 10.3390/biomechanics6030063
PY - 2026///
SN - 2673-7078
TI - Quantifying brittle crack opening in human trabecular bone using synchrotron XCT-DVC
T2 - Biomechanics
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biomechanics6030063
VL - 6
ER -