The process of designing a rotating platform artificial knee prosthesis with posterior stabilizers by finite element analysis

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to design a rotating platform knee prosthesis with posterior stabilizers. This design is based on reverse engineering and interactive acquisition and reconstruction of 3D models combined with the finite element method. A 3D geometric model of a healthy knee joint was created from an anatomical knee model by using an active acquisition system based on a 3D scanner. This healthy model comprises a portion of the long bones (femur, tibia and fibula), as well as the transverse ligament, medial collateral ligament, posterior cruciate ligament, anterior cruciate ligament, medial meniscus and cartilage. The digital model that was obtained was repaired and converted to an engineering drawing format by use of CATIA© software. Also, based on the foregoing format, a rotating platform knee prosthesis was designed and assembled by this software. Once the healthy and artificial models were repaired, the Mentat Marc© software was used to develop the healthy and artificial knee FE models. From the anthropometry of the human body, a combination of loads and positions were obtained by use of 3D Static Strength Prediction software. The normal stresses, Von Mises stresses and all relative displacements of the healthy and artificial knee FE model were determined. The Von Mises stresses on both the cortical and the trabecular bone of the artificial and healthy knee FE model were analyzed and compared. The prosthesis was designed for the knee of a male patient of height and body weight of 190 cm and 120 kg, respectively.