Phase-field cohesive zone models capture the nonlinear fracture behaviour of cortical bone : Calibration of material properties from fracture mechanics experiments
Carlsson, Jenny LU
and Gustafsson, Anna
LU
(2026)
In Journal of Biomechanics
206.
- Abstract
In this work, an optimisation algorithm is employed to calibrate a quasi-brittle phase-field cohesive zone model against notched three-point bending experiments on bovine cortical bone using the force vs crack mouth opening displacement data. Calibration is performed both for individual specimens, to quantify parameter variability, and for groups of specimens from the same subject and crack propagation direction, to determine material parameters representative of the homogenised tissue. The proposed approach enables simultaneous identification of elastic modulus, strength and fracture toughness from a single specimen, yielding values consistent with ranges reported in the literature. Using the calibrated tissue material parameters, the... (More)
In this work, an optimisation algorithm is employed to calibrate a quasi-brittle phase-field cohesive zone model against notched three-point bending experiments on bovine cortical bone using the force vs crack mouth opening displacement data. Calibration is performed both for individual specimens, to quantify parameter variability, and for groups of specimens from the same subject and crack propagation direction, to determine material parameters representative of the homogenised tissue. The proposed approach enables simultaneous identification of elastic modulus, strength and fracture toughness from a single specimen, yielding values consistent with ranges reported in the literature. Using the calibrated tissue material parameters, the model reproduces the experimental responses with good accuracy and captures key features of quasi-brittle fracture behaviour, including non-negligible crack advance prior to peak load. The good agreement suggests that a cohesive phase-field formulation provides a suitable framework for modelling fracture in cortical bone. This methodology can be applied to human bone in order to determine how fracture properties vary with age and disease, something that eventually could improve predictions of load-carrying capacity in subject-specific models.
(Less)
- author
- Carlsson, Jenny
LU
and Gustafsson, Anna
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2026-09
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Cortical bone, Material parameter calibration, Non-linear fracture mechanics, Phase-field cohesive zone method
- in
- Journal of Biomechanics
- volume
- 206
- article number
- 113527
- pages
- 8 pages
- publisher
- Elsevier
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:42617534
- scopus:105047825502
- ISSN
- 0021-9290
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.jbiomech.2026.113527
- project
- Fracture mechanics of bone tissue – impact of age and disease
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- Publisher Copyright: © 2026 The Author(s)
- id
- 97b6168d-33e9-40ab-80d5-d47b74726ce6
- date added to LUP
- 2026-09-03 10:26:20
- date last changed
- 2026-09-11 03:01:17
@article{97b6168d-33e9-40ab-80d5-d47b74726ce6,
abstract = {{<p>In this work, an optimisation algorithm is employed to calibrate a quasi-brittle phase-field cohesive zone model against notched three-point bending experiments on bovine cortical bone using the force vs crack mouth opening displacement data. Calibration is performed both for individual specimens, to quantify parameter variability, and for groups of specimens from the same subject and crack propagation direction, to determine material parameters representative of the homogenised tissue. The proposed approach enables simultaneous identification of elastic modulus, strength and fracture toughness from a single specimen, yielding values consistent with ranges reported in the literature. Using the calibrated tissue material parameters, the model reproduces the experimental responses with good accuracy and captures key features of quasi-brittle fracture behaviour, including non-negligible crack advance prior to peak load. The good agreement suggests that a cohesive phase-field formulation provides a suitable framework for modelling fracture in cortical bone. This methodology can be applied to human bone in order to determine how fracture properties vary with age and disease, something that eventually could improve predictions of load-carrying capacity in subject-specific models.</p>}},
author = {{Carlsson, Jenny and Gustafsson, Anna}},
issn = {{0021-9290}},
keywords = {{Cortical bone; Material parameter calibration; Non-linear fracture mechanics; Phase-field cohesive zone method}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Elsevier}},
series = {{Journal of Biomechanics}},
title = {{Phase-field cohesive zone models capture the nonlinear fracture behaviour of cortical bone : Calibration of material properties from fracture mechanics experiments}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiomech.2026.113527}},
doi = {{10.1016/j.jbiomech.2026.113527}},
volume = {{206}},
year = {{2026}},
}