Evaluation of a posterior cruciate ligament deficient human knee joint finite element model

Abstract

The human knee joint has a three-dimensional geometry with multiple body articulations that produce complex mechanical responses under loads that occur in everyday life and sports activities. Knowledge of the complex mechanical interactions of these load-bearing structures is of use when treatments of relevant diseases are evaluated and assisting devices are designed. Numerical tools, such as the finite element analysis, are suitable for such modeling and can be used with success by students as well as experienced researchers alike. These tools have been used to develop an accurate human knee joint model to study its mechanical behavior. This model has been used to study the kinematics of a PCL deficient human knee joint. Both linear and non-linear material models were developed for comparison purposes. The main objective of this study is to verify developed knee joint models. Displacement results for static load cases presented in previous modeling work were used. Results were in agreement with those of the study employed for validation. Results were compared with work from previous authors' studies, for the intact and the ACL deficient human knee joint. This aimed to understand the behavior of the knee joint and to verify that the model produced results in agreement with real life knee joint behavior with these types of injuries, as described in literature.