On the effect of friction on tibiofemoral joint kinematics

Abstract

The effect of friction on nonlinear dynamics and vibration of total knee arthroplasties is yet to be investigated and understood. This research work aims at studying the influence of friction on nonlinear dynamics, friction‐induced vibration, and damage of tibiofemoral joints. For this purpose, a spatial dynamic knee model is developed using an asymmetric nonlinear elastic model accounting for knee joint ligaments and a penalty contact model to compute normal contact stresses in the joint while contact detection is treated such that the associated computational time is reduced. Several friction models are considered and embedded in the dynamic model to estimate tangential friction forces in the knee joint. External loads and moments, due to the presence of all soft tissues, e.g., muscles and hip‐joint reaction forces, applied to the femoral bone are determined using a musculoskeletal approach. In the post‐processing stage, damage, i.e., wear and creep, are estimated using three wear models and an empirical creep formulation, respectively. In addition, a FFT analysis is performed to evaluate likely friction‐induced vibration of tibiofemoral joints. Mesh density analysis is performed and the methodology is assessed against outcomes available in the literature. It can be concluded that friction influences not only the tribology, but also dynamics of the knee joint, and friction‐induced vibration is likely to take place when the friction coefficient increases.