title: Total hip arthroplasty wear simulation using the boundary element method.
abstract: In this paper an application of the boundary element method for simulating wear in total hip prosthesis is presented. Several examples including different update periods of the worn acetabular cup, various femoral head sizes and various materials for both the femoral head and the acetabular cup are simulated under the same variable loading conditions for up to 20 years of service. Moreover, two different femoral models are considered in order to investigate the influence of the femoral modelling. The analysis demonstrates that due to the boundary only modelling requirement, the computational time and storage remains low, allowing large service periods to be simulated. Generally, the results obtained are in good agreement with other researchers findings. Moreover, ignoring the bending of the femoral neck in the model, results in a small overestimation of the maximum wear depth, while the volumetric wear is slightly underestimated. However, these differences are trivial considering the reduction of the computational effort.
authors.affiliation: Department of Aeronautics, Faculty of Engineering, Imperial College, University of London, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, UK.
authors.forename: G K
authors.initials: GK
authors.lastname: Sfantos
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Aliabadi
mesh_terms: D019644:Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006622:Hip Prosthesis; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological