Morphological characteristics of the trabecular structure, identified by micro-tomography, can be quantified by volume fraction and
second-order fabric tensors. These parameters have been proved to be related to bone structural properties but the formulations so far
developed between volume fraction, fabric and elastic properties are bone specific and the coefficients found for one bone are not directly
applicable to other bones. In this work, a general relationship was determined that links volume fraction and Mean Intercept
Length (MIL) to the trabecular structure stiffness as computed by means of numerical models on which compression tests are simulated.
Preliminary results obtained for three pig and two rat bone structures show that, for the pooled data set, the model could predict approximately
99% of the variation of the numerically computed elastic moduli.
