ABSTRACT
The main concern associated with the presence of bone sarcoma is the weakening of the host bone, which potentially leads to bone fractures. Such unexpected rupture frequently occurs in the proximal femur due to the high loads that this bone is submitted during the gait. Nowadays, the existent methods to predict the risk of bone failure are not sufficient. Therefore, it is necessary to explore new tools, such as computational simulation. The main objective of this work is to study the mechanical effect of the size of a bone sarcoma located in the femoral head, using numerical discretization techniques, such as the well-known Finite Element Method (FEM) and two meshless methods—the Radial Point Interpolation Method (RPIM) and the Natural Neighbour Radial Point Interpolation Method (NNRPIM). The obtained results show that with the progression of the disease, there is a significant increase in the stress field around the sarcoma. In addition, it was possible to verify that meshless methods can produce softer stress fields when compared to FEM. Such conclusions are in concordance with the clinical observation and the literature.
