ABSTRACT
In recent years the finite element method (FEM) has become the most appropriate tool for the stress analysis of the human musculoskeletal system in biomechanics. For the construction of finite element models from CT-scans we have developed a geometry orientated method (FAMGoFEG) and a voxel orientated method (FAMVoFEG). Both methods are presented and compared in this paper. At first the way of extracting the geometry of parts of the musculoskeletal system from CT-scans with the program FAMFiltraCT is described, which both methods have in common. With FAMGoFEG a CAD-model is built with the CAD-FE-program I-DEAS. This CAD-model can automatically be meshed with finite elements. FAMVoFEG utilises the special structure of CT-data, since every picture element of CT-scans represents a rectangular hexahedron. The finite elements are directly and automatically generated from CT-data. The direct transformation of every voxel of the CT-scan to a corresponding finite element results in a mesh with many elements and coarse surfaces. Therefore appropriate software tools have been developed to reduce the number of elements and to smooth the surfaces of the mesh. FAMGoFEG and FAMVoFEG are verified for a knee joint and a vertebral body, respectively.
