To assess the degree (i.e., isotropy, transverse isotropy, or orthotropy) and the
directions of anisotropy of a three-dimensional structure, information about its
mesostructure is necessary. Usually, a topological analysis of computed tomography
or microcomputed tomography images is performed and requires an interpretation of
the constitutive elements of the three-dimensional structure, which may lead to a
simplistic description of the geometry. In this paper we propose an alternative
technique based on a geometric tensor and we use it to analyze 38 representative
elementary volumes extracted from 24 specimens of cortical bone in a human femur
whose geometries have been reconstructed via microcomputed tomography
images.