Qingen Meng

Contact mechanics and elastohydrodynamic lubrication in a novel metal-on-metal hip implant with an aspherical bearing surface

Diameter and diametral clearance of the bearing surfaces of metal-on-metal hip implants and structural supports have been recognised as key factors to reduce the dry contact and hydrodynamic pressures and improve lubrication performance. On the other hand, application of aspherical bearing surfaces can also significantly affect the contact mechanics and lubrication performance by changing the radius of the curvature of a bearing surface and consequently improving the conformity between the head and the cup. In this study, a novel metal-on-metal hip implant employing a specific aspherical bearing surface, Alpharabola, as the acetabular surface was investigated for both contact mechanics and elastohydrodynamic lubrication under steady-state conditions. When compared with conventional spherical bearing surfaces, a more uniform pressure distribution and a thicker lubricant film thickness within the loaded conjunction were predicted for this novel Alpharabola hip implant. The effects of the geometric parameters of this novel acetabular surface on the pressure distribution and lubricant thickness were investigated. A significant increase in the predicted lubricant film thickness and a significant decrease in the dry contact and hydrodynamic pressures were found with appropriate combinations of these geometric parameters, compared with the spherical bearing surface.

Comparison of numerical methods for elastohydrodynamic lubrication analysis of metal-on-metal hip implants: Multi-grid verses Newton-Raphson

Abstract Elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) of a metal-on-metal hip implant was investigated under quasi-static operating conditions. Various numerical methods, such as Newton-Raphson (N-R), multi-grid (MG), multi-level multi-integration, and fast Fourier transform technique (FFT), were considered and compared in terms of the convergence and accuracy of the numerical solution. It was found that the numerical convergence for the MG method was much faster, and consequently the computational time required was significantly lower than the N-R method. This feature was particularly evident, when a tighter tolerance was specified on the pressure iteration and a high load or low viscosity was considered. Furthermore, the multi-integration method was found to be more effective, only when four-level grids were considered and compared with the FFT technique. It was concluded that the MG method has the potential to be applied efficiently and effectively for modelling realistic EHL problems of artificial hip joints such as under transient conditions of walking and when the surface topography is considered.

The effect of collagen fibril orientation on the biphasic mechanics of articular cartilage

The highly inhomogeneous distribution of collagen fibrils may have important effects on the biphasic mechanics of articular cartilage. However, the effect of the inhomogeneity of collagen fibrils has mainly been investigated using simplified three-layered models, which may have underestimated the effect of collagen fibrils by neglecting their realistic orientation. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the realistic orientation of collagen fibrils on the biphasic mechanics of articular cartilage. Five biphasic material models, each of which included a different level of complexity of fibril reinforcement, were solved using two different finite element software packages (Abaqus and FEBio). Model 1 considered the realistic orientation of fibrils, which was derived from diffusion tensor magnetic resonance images. The simplified three-layered orientation was used for Model 2. Models 3-5 were three control models. The realistic collagen orientations obtained in this study were consistent with the literature. Results from the two finite element implementations were in agreement for each of the conditions modelled. The comparison between the control models confirmed some functions of collagen fibrils. The comparison between Models 1 and 2 showed that the widely-used three-layered inhomogeneous model can produce similar fluid load support to the model including the realistic fibril orientation; however, an accurate prediction of the other mechanical parameters requires the inclusion of the realistic orientation of collagen fibrils.

Computational investigation of the time-dependent contact behaviour of the human tibiofemoral joint under body weight

The knee joint is one of the most common sites for osteoarthritis, the onset and progression of which are believed to relate to the mechanical environment of cartilage. To understand this environment, it is necessary to take into account the complex biphasic contact interactions of the cartilage and menisci. In this study, the time-dependent contact behaviour of an intact and a meniscectomized human tibiofemoral joint was characterized under body weight using a computational model. Good agreement in the contact area and femoral displacement under static loads were found between model predictions of this study and published experimental measurements. The time-dependent results indicated that as loading time progressed, the contact area and femoral vertical displacement of both intact and meniscectomized joints increased. More load was transferred to the cartilage–cartilage interface over time. However, the portions of load borne by the lateral and medial compartments did not greatly vary with time. Additionally, during the whole simulation period, the maximum compressive stress in the meniscectomized joint was higher than that in the intact joint. The fluid pressure in the intact and meniscectomized joints remained remarkably high at the condyle centres, but the fluid pressure at the cartilage–meniscus interface decreased faster than that at the condyle centres as loading time progressed. The above findings provide further insights into the mechanical environment of the cartilage and meniscus within the human knee joint.

Comparison between FEBio and Abaqus for biphasic contact problems

Articular cartilage plays an important role in the function of diarthrodial joints. Computational methods have been used to study the biphasic mechanics of cartilage, and Abaqus has been one of the most widely used commercial software packages for this purpose. A newly developed open-source finite element solver, FEBio, has been developed specifically for biomechanical applications. The aim of this study was to undertake a direct comparison between FEBio and Abaqus for some practical contact problems involving cartilage. Three model types, representing a porous flat-ended indentation test, a spherical-ended indentation test, and a conceptual natural joint contact model, were compared. In addition, a parameter sensitivity study was also performed for the spherical-ended indentation test to investigate the effects of changes in the input material properties on the model outputs, using both FEBio and Abaqus. Excellent agreement was found between FEBio and Abaqus for all of the model types and across the range of material properties that were investigated.

The lubrication performance of the ceramic-on-ceramic hip implant under starved conditions.

Lubrication plays an important role in the clinical performance of the ceramic-on-ceramic (CoC) hip implant in terms of reducing wear and avoiding squeaking. All the previous lubrication analyses of CoC hip implants assumed that synovial fluid was sufficiently supplied to the contact area. The aim of this study was to investigate the lubrication performance of the CoC hip implant under starved conditions. A starved lubrication model was presented for the CoC hip implant. The model was solved using multi-grid techniques. Results showed that the fluid film thickness of the CoC hip implant was affected by fluid supply conditions: with the increase in the supplied fluid layer, the lubrication film thickness approached to that of the fully blooded solution; when the available fluid layer reduced to some level, the fluid film thickness considerably decreased with the supplying condition. The above finding provides new insights into the lubrication performance of hip implants.

The effect of aspherical geometry and surface texturing on the elastohydrodynamic lubrication of metal-on-metal hip prostheses under physiological loading and motions

Abstract As an alternative material combination, metal-on-metal (MOM) hip replacement has attracted a revived interest due to its very low wear rates. In this article, an elastohydrodynamic lubrication analysis is performed for an MOM hip replacement with specific geometrical designs: a macro Alpharabola geometry of the cup bearing surface and micro-dimples on the head surface. The corresponding numerical methodology is presented and full numerical solutions are obtained. The effect of the macro- and micro-geometrical designs on the lubrication performance is investigated, under both simplified and physiological walking conditions. The real physiological loading and motion conditions are important to be considered when optimizing the conformity-associated geometry of hip bearings. The Alpharabola geometry of cup bearing surface is found to significantly improve the lubricating film thickness and reduce hydrodynamic pressure of MOM hip implants, when the Alpharabola minimum radius is aligned with the loading direction. Dimpled surface texturing has an adverse effect in a fluid film lubrication regime under the conditions considered in this study.

Transient Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication Analysis of a Novel Metal-On-Metal Hip Prosthesis with a Non-Spherical Femoral Bearing Surface

Effective lubrication performance of metal-on-metal hip implants only requires optimum conformity within the main loaded area, while it is advantageous to increase the clearance in the equatorial region. Such a varying clearance can be achieved by using non-spherical bearing surfaces for either acetabular or femoral components. An elastohydrodynamic lubrication model of a novel metal-on-metal hip prosthesis using a non-spherical femoral bearing surface against a spherical cup was solved under loading and motion conditions specified by ISO standard. A full numerical methodology of considering the geometric variation in the rotating non-spherical head in elastohydrodynamic lubrication solution was presented, which is applicable to all non-spherical head designs. The lubrication performance of a hip prosthesis using a specific non-spherical femoral head, Alpharabola, was analysed and compared with those of spherical bearing surfaces and a non-spherical Alpharabola cup investigated in previous studies. The sensitivity of the lubrication performance to the anteversion angle of the Alpharabola head was also investigated. Results showed that the non-spherical head introduced a large squeeze-film action and also led to a large variation in clearance within the loaded area. With the same equatorial clearance, the lubrication performance of the metal-on-metal hip prosthesis using an Alpharabola head was better than that of the conventional spherical bearings but worse than that of the metal-on-metal hip prosthesis using an Alpharabola cup. The reduction in the lubrication performance caused by the initial anteversion angle of the non-spherical head was small, compared with the improvement resulted from the non-spherical geometry.

Effect of simplifications of bone and components inclination on the elastohydrodynamic lubrication modeling of metal-on-metal hip resurfacing prosthesis:

It is important to study the lubrication mechanism of metal-on-metal hip resurfacing prosthesis in order to understand its overall tribological performance, thereby minimize the wear particles. Previous elastohydrodynamic lubrication studies of metal-on-metal hip resurfacing prosthesis neglected the effects of the orientations of the cup and head. Simplified pelvic and femoral bone models were also adopted for the previous studies. These simplifications may lead to unrealistic predictions. For the first time, an elastohydrodynamic lubrication model was developed and solved for a full metal-on-metal hip resurfacing arthroplasty. The effects of the orientations of components and the realistic bones on the lubrication performance of metal-on-metal hip resurfacing prosthesis were investigated by comparing the full model with simplified models. It was found that the orientation of the head played a very important role in the prediction of pressure distributions and film profiles of the metal-on-metal hip resurfacing prosthesis. The inclination of the hemispherical cup up to 45° had no appreciable effect on the lubrication performance of the metal-on-metal hip resurfacing prosthesis. Moreover, the combined effect of material properties and structures of bones was negligible. Future studies should focus on higher inclination angles, smaller coverage angle and microseparation related to the occurrences of edge loading.

Elastohydrodynamic lubrication analysis of metal-on-metal hip implants with complex structures using the finite-element method

Abstract Various complex structures are employed in different metal-on-metal (MOM) hip prostheses for different purposes. For the elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) study of these prostheses, the elastic deformation calculation is not a trivial task due to the effect of complex structures. The finite-element method (FEM) is an attractive approach for solving these problems because of its flexibility in handling complex geometries. Moreover, the availability of high-level ready-to-use finite-element commercial software may facilitate the modelling of complex structures and thereby reduce the time spent on implementing the analysis. In this study, a numerical method was developed to solve the EHL problems of MOM hip prostheses with complex structures. In this method, the elastic deformation was calculated from the product of the flexibility matrix of the lubrication nodes and the nodal force. The flexibility matrix was obtained by inverting the stiffness matrix, which was obtained through finite-element analysis using commercial software. The nodal force was obtained by transferring the hydrodynamic pressure according to the isoparametric element definition. This method was validated for a typical 28 mm diameter MOM total hip replacement. The effects of the structures of the femoral head, the wall thickness of the cup, as well as the bone quality of patients on lubrication performance of MOM hip resurfacing prostheses were subsequently investigated.