The modified cam clay model for constrained compression of human morsellised bone: Effects of porosity on the mechanical behaviour

Morsellised cortico-cancellous bone (MCB) is often used in revision surgery for filling skeletal defects. The MCB porosity is found to influence the degree of bone ingrowth. Thus expressing a material model in terms of porosity may be attractive from a clinical point of view. We analysed the moisture content and performed constrained compression testing of human impacted and unimpacted MCB, in order to determine material parameters for the common constitutive soil model: modified cam clay. The model seemed to be suitable for the unimpacted pellets with a logarithmic bulk modulus kappa=0.059+/-0.0019 and a logarithmic hardening constant lambda=0.36+/-0.014. This model, relating the specific volume (and porosity) to the logarithm of stress, may be suited to find the best compromise of stiffness and porosity for MCB.