Wear Prediction of Hip Endoprostheses

Abstract

The total hip prostheses can be considered as medical-mechanical devices with established failure. The large domain of common activities induces a wide spectrum of loadings in contact prosthetic parts. The contact conditions evolve due to wearing and a long-time prediction imply a high level of nonlinearity. The authors tried to overcome all these difficulties by using a complex predictive model that combines statistical evaluation, nonlinear mechanical analyses of load transfer by the contact interface and tribological estimations of the wear characteristics. For every regime, a dynamic Finite Element simulation of the dry-friction contact was performed, establishing the contact traces and the contact pressure distribution. In this way, based on the joint load transfer characteristics specific to each activity, one could evaluate the volume of wear debris.