Bones are dynamic organs that respond to their mechanical environment during development and throughout life. As bones grow under the influence of applied loads, their cross-sectional morphology is modified based on the local mechanical environment. Overall bone strength is subsequently affected by local changes in bone geometry and the distribution of bone material throughout bone sections. Previous computational studies have demonstrated the influence of far-field loads such as torsional moments, bending moments, and axial forces on bone cross-sectional development and adaptation. However, smaller loads applied directly to periosteal surfaces may also affect bone morphogenesis and adaptation, and therefore these loads may be important mechanobiological stimuli both during development and throughout life. In this dissertation a new computational modeling framework for simulating bone development is presented and used to investigate the effects of local periosteal surface loads on bone development, and new methods for noninvasive, in vivo estimation of the strength of the femoral neck are developed and implemented in order to explore the importance of bone cross-sectional morphology on overall bone strength.

The new theoretical bone modeling framework developed in this dissertation incorporates the effects of local periosteal surface pressures and tensile strains into stress-based simulations of bone modeling. Local periosteal surface pressures are assumed to inhibit bone formation or induce bone resorption, while tensile strains perpendicular to the periosteal surface are assumed to inhibit bone resoiption or induce new bone deposition. The model is used to demonstrate the importance of to the loads normally experienced on a day-to-day basis. The new analysis methods developed in this study offer the opportunity to monitor changes in bone strength at the femoral neck and other commonly fractured skeletal sites.