  Many biological tissues, such as bones and ligaments, are fibrous. The
geometrical structure of these tissues shows that they exhibit a similar
hierarchy in their ultra-structure and macro-structure. The aim of this work is
to develop a model to study the failure of fibrous structures subjected to
dynamic loading. The important feature of this model is that it describes
failure in terms of the loss of cohesion between fibres. We have developed a
model based on the lamellar structure of compact bone with fibres oriented at 0
degrees, 45 degrees and 90 degrees to the longitudinal axis of the bone, and
have studied the influence of the model parameters on the failure process. Bone
porosity and joint stress force at failure were found to be the most
significant parameters. Using least square resolution, we deduced a
phenomenological model of the lamellar structure. Finally, experimental results
were found to be comparable with our numerical model.
