Fatigue analysis of cemented hip prosthesis: damage accumulation scenario and sensitivity analysis

This work is dedicated to the fatigue analysis of cemented total hip arthroplasty. In particular the damage evaluation scenario is simulated and a sensitivity analysis is performed. To this end, two different damage evaluation algorithms (the elasto-brittle and the continuous damage one) are proposed and implemented in the finite element code ABAQUS(R). Some global damage criteria are introduced to quantify the damage accumulation. The continuous damage algorithm is shown to perform better compared to the elasto-brittle damage one in the estimation of the fatigue lifetime of the cement mantle. A sensitivity analysis is then performed as a function of the cement Young's modulus, the stem-cement friction coefficient and the stem Young's modulus. Numerical results show a significant sensitivity to variations of the cement Young's modulus and stem-cement friction coefficient and a moderate sensitivity to the stem Young's modulus. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.