General engineering analysis

Case Study

Contact analysis of artificial hip joint components

Morgan Matroc Ltd, Bioceramic Products used LUSAS Analyst for stress analysis of ceramic components such as femoral heads used in total hip replacement. In orthopaedic applications, ceramic heads offer the advantages of low wear, high strength and excellent biocompatibility. Morgan Matroc is a world leader in ceramic technology and always uses the most up-to-date techniques to evaluate, design and test their ceramic implant devices.

The ceramic heads are made of either zirconia or alumina and are highly polished to reduce wear on the hip socket, which is made from Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMPE). The head is fitted to a Morse-type taper titanium shaft that is then cemented into the femur. 

The heads are produced in a range of sizes with bore sizes and taper angles adjusted according to customer requirements. LUSAS is being used to investigate load-to-failure, fatigue and impact for these various configurations.

Stresses induced in force-fitting ceramic head onto shaft

Normally, the analysis of the contact between the shaft and head and between head and socket is a very difficult problem for traditional finite element systems. However, LUSAS Analyst contains a "slideline" facility specifically designed for these types of contact problem. The slideline facility automatically calculates the contact conditions between the various parts in the structure and allows complex problems involving contact and friction to be modelled and analysed with relative ease.

 


 

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Any modelling, design and analysis capabilities described are dependent upon the LUSAS software product, version and option in use.