We studied the elastic properties of bone to analyze its mechanical behavior. The basic principles of ultrasonic methods are now well established for varying isotropic media, particularly in the field of biomedical engineering. However, little progress has been made in its application to anisotropic materials. This is largely due to the complex nature of wave propagation in these media. In the ...

A proof of convergence of the finite-element method in rate-type, quasistatic boundary value problems is presented. The bodies considered may be discretely heterogeneous and elastically anisotropic, their plastic behavior governed by historydependent, piecewise-linear yield functions and fully coupled hardening rules. Elastic moduli are required to be positive-definite and plastic moduli nonneg...