Experimental investigation of low frequency vibration in synthetic tibial cortical bone

An experimental method is envisioned to generate interaction between high-amplitude low frequency vibration and low-amplitude high frequency guided waves in a human tibia in order to diagnose non-comminuted fractures, osteoporosis, and manage bone healing. Herein, the low frequency vibration of a synthetic tibia is investigated. The bone is given a short hammer tap at multiple locations along the length. A laser doppler vibrometer is used to capture the out-of-plane displacement at a fixed location on the medial surface of the mid-diaphyseal region of the synthetic bone for each of the excitations. The captured data is then analyzed in the frequency domain to extract the dominant peaks and identify the natural frequencies. The same frequencies are obtained regardless of the location of the hammer tap and they agree with simulation results using a simplified geometry.