How accurate is the Archard law to predict wear of UHMWPE in hard-on-soft hip implants? A numerical and experimental investigation

Abstract

Advanced finite element wear models have been recently proposed for hard-on-soft hip implants, but their high computational cost and validation are still open issues. This study aims to develop a fast and accurate wear model for in-silico pre-clinical trials. A finite element model of a ceramic-on-UHMWPE hip implant, based on the Archard wear law, was calibrated and validated using experimental wear maps, as rarely done in the literature. Predicted wear volume and depths deviated from the experimental ones of about 0.2 % and 12–25 %, respectively, comparable to more advanced models including the cross-shearing. Results support the development of relatively simple models requiring limited simulation times, thus making feasible thousands of simulations requested by in-silico trials.