International Projects

i. Reconstruction of 3D models predatory vertebrates to dinosaurs back to life, using numerical modeling, image processing and High End Visualization. 

International Partner: Microsoft UK and University of Manchester, UK 

ii. Finite Element Analysis of Tyrannosaurus Rex (T Rex’s) humerus for Tendon Avulsion studies

International Partner: National Geographic UK and University of Penn, USA
This  study used X-Ray Computed Tomography (XRCT) and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to investigate the structure, morphology and subsequent repair of the humeral pathology. The 3D data generated by the XRCT shows evidence that the injury suffered a probable bacterial infection and healing was accompanied by both external and extensive internal bone re-modelling, in what seems a non-fatal injury.  While the XRCT shows that the avulsion site on the humerus of FMNH PR2081 healed, the Finite Element Analysis indicates that it could subsequently support a higher compressive load than adjacent healthy bone. The position and geometry of the injury suggests that a tendonous attachment might well have existed in T. rex for the medial head of the triceps that tore free from its origin resulting in the trauma and  observed healing.  The FEA result supports the XRCT data that the injury was non fatal.

The finite element analyses suggest that the bone in the region around the deep pit and posterodistal process on the posterior surface of the humeral shaft had been remodelled to such an extent that, after healing, it was mechanically stronger than presumably healthy bone elsewhere in the humerus.