Date of Award

Summer 2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering

Program/Concentration

Mechanical Engineering

Committee Director

Sebastian Bawab

Committee Director

Stacie Ringleb

Committee Member

Gene J. W. Hou

Call Number for Print

Special Collections; LD4331.E56 D66 2013

Abstract

The human hindfoot is a complex structure and its medical treatment can vary from patient to patient. If physicians have access to a patient specific computer model, the optimal treatment option can be explored on the model before preforming it on the patient. The purpose of this study was to create a quasi-static finite element model and to show the stress contour in the cartilage between the bones. Ankle joint contact pressure was collected on one cadaver limb with a 40 lbs ( 178 N) axial load applied and tendon loads applied to simulate the ratio of tendon loading during gait, while the foot was positioned from 10° of dorsiflexion to 20° of plantarflexion in 10° increments. Computerized Tomography (CT) scans were also obtained of the entire foot for each position, but without the sensor or loads applied. A full foot finite element model was created for each of the aforementioned positions using LSDYNA (LSTC, Livermore, CA). All of the stress contour patterns on the cartilage closely matched the experimental pressure data collected. However, the maximum peak in the experiment was 2.55 MPa and the stress reported from the model was 1. 7 MP a. All the stress values on the cartilage were found to be from 27% to 44% of the experimental values. Some of the sources of error may have been caused by the fact that the CT scans were collected without the pressure sensor, the pressure sensor was not included in the model and that a dynamic modeling software was used for a quasi-static problem.

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DOI

10.25777/waqr-4a33

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