Development of a new animal model to investigate the influence of the magnitude, frequency and duration of mechanical loading on the fracture healing outcome as a basis for the enhancement of numerical fracture healing simulations according to these load

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The fracture healing process is influenced by biomechanical and biological factors. The most important biomechanical factor is the interfragmentary movement (IFM). Previous animal experiments did not allow to investigate the influence of mechanical loading on the fracture healing outcome with regard to magnitude, frequency and duration. A new animal model should be developed at the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, which allows well controlled mechanical loading with regard to the load characteristics mentioned above. Thereby, it should be possible to apply the IFM isolated from the musculoskeletal loads with the use of an active fixator and a double osteotomy at the sheep tibia. In the last years, a numerical model for the simulation of the fracture healing process was developed at the Institute of Orthopaedic Research and Biomechanics, Ulm University, which allows analyzing the influence of the IFM on the fracture healing outcome. Due to the lack of appropriate in vivo data, it was not possible to enhance this numerical model to investigate the influence of mechanical loading with regard to the frequency, duration and the number of load cycles.The aim of this scholarship is the development of the new animal model in cooperation with Brisbane, which is both, optimally suitable for in vivo investigations on the influence of mechanical loading on the fracture healing outcome AND optimally suitable for the enhancement of our numerical fracture healing model. Therefore, the experimental possibilities in Brisbane as well as the numerical know-how from Ulm should be used. The special feature for the enhancement of our numerical fracture healing model is that the development of the new animal model can directly be influenced on-site and that all boundary conditions, ranging from surgery to sacrifice of the animals, could be analyzed in detail. This is mandatory to simulate the in vivo experiments correctly.