Wear prediction for metal-on-metal hip joint replacements / 医用生物力学

ABSTRACT

Objective To develop a wear prediction model for hard-on-hard hip joint replacement under the condition of complex dynamic loading and time-dependent motion, and to apply it to the study on wear prediction of the typical metal-on-metal hip joint replacement in the complicated three-dimensional (3D) physiological motion condition. Methods The finite element model for contact mechanics was established and the fixed-tracked method was adopted to make the dynamic wear reappear on the bearing surface of artificial hip joint with 3D Euler transformation, and the data communication about the corresponding contact and wear for simulation was also made. Results The wear prediction test showed that the spherical bearing geometry of the artificial hip joint gradually became the non-spherical form due to the wear with time; meanwhile, the corresponding contact area was increased, the distribution of the contact pressure tended to be flattened, and the maximum contact pressure was decreased. Conclusions The wear prediction model developed here for metal-on-metal hip joint replacements with bilateral bearing surfaces under the condition of complex dynamic loading and motion could be used to carry out simulation test for the wear prediction of metal-on-metal artificial joint, which provides a new method to understand the wear mechanism of hip joint replacement.