Estudio de la fractura de tibia proximal 41-C1 empleando el método de elementos finitos

Abstract

The proximal tibia fracture 41-C1 is analyzed with and without the use of fixation plates. This analysis is done considering the different stages of the fracture healing callus (soft and mature). The study is built on a finite element model of a synthetic tibia (Synbone®), which assumes linear and isotropic material behavior. It was utilized to build four new models of the fractured tibia: the first two contain the materials that make up the fracture callus, one for the soft and another for the mature stage; and the second two contain both types of callus, along with the fixation plates and the screws. Linear and isotropic behavior was again assumed for all materials. Different mechanical material properties were assigned to specific groups of elements within the original mesh, to simulate the fracture conditions. Fixation plates were substituted by restricting and correlating the degrees of freedom at the top of the screws using constraint equations. The spatial movement of the fracture fragments was evaluated, finding greater displacements on the models without plates than those found for the models with plates. The constraint equations were proved valid as a good simulation of the rigidity contributed by the plates to the fractured bone. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.