Bone augmentation implants are porous to allow
cellular growth, bone formation and fixation. However, the
design of the pores is currently based on simple empirical
rules, such as minimum pore and interconnects sizes. We
present a three-dimensional (3D) transient model of cellular
growth based on the Navier–Stokes equations that simulates
the body fluid flow and stimulation of bone precursor cellular
growth, attachment, and proliferation as a function of local
flow shear stress. The model’s effectiveness is demonstrated
for two additive manufactured (AM) titanium scaffold architectures.
The results demonstrate that there is a complex interaction
of flow rate and strut architecture, resulting in partially
randomized structures having a preferential impact on stimulating
cell migration in 3D porous structures for higher flow
rates. This novel result demonstrates the potential new
insights that can be gained via the modeling tool developed,
and how the model can be used to perform what-if simulations
to design AM structures to specific functional requirements