Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

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Materials Today: Proceedings

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/matpr

Finite element analysis of mechanical response of fracture fixation

functionally graded bone plate at paediatric femur bone fracture site
under compressive and torsional loadings
Nand Jee Kanu a,⇑, Devendra Patwardhan b, Eva Gupta c, Umesh Kumar Vates d, Gyanendra Kumar Singh e
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, SVNIT, Surat, Gujarat 395007, India
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, JSPM NTC, Pune, Maharashtra 411041, India
c
Department of Electrical Engineering, Amity University, Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201313, India
d
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Amity University, Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201313, India
e
Center for Advanced Manufacturing Engineering, Adama Science and Technology University, Adama 1888, Ethiopia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The previous investigations clearly demonstrated that nearly 25% of the paediatric injuries are due to
Received 20 July 2020 fracture of bones. Children are more prone to paediatric injuries due to their childish behaviour. Their
Received in revised form 15 August 2020 bones are subjected to axial compressive stresses due to their weight as well as torsional and bending
Accepted 28 August 2020
stresses with maximum values at fracture sites of paediatric femur (PF) bones. The present investigation
Available online xxxx
compares commercially available fracture fixation (FF) bone plate made up of titanium alloy with newly
developed functionally graded (FG) prosthetic bone plate (graded stepwise in thickness direction using
Keywords:
isotropic hydroxyapatite (Ha) and titanium (Ti) materials) for the treatment of fractured paediatric femur
Paediatric
Femur
bones. The static stress analyses are carried out using finite element method (FEM) for the children under
Titanium age group of 0–3 years. Furthermore, the combined compressive and torsional stresses are evaluated at
Functionally graded 1%, 50%, and 75% healing stages of PF bones at their fracture sites using non-contacted bone-plate assem-
Bone plate blies. The results favor the layered FG fracture fixation bone plates as they shield the PF bones from
Fracture equivalent (von Mises) stresses as compared to the widely used FF bone plate made up of titanium alloy
by (a) around 75–85% under each loading, i.e., either compressive or torsional loading at a time in the con-
tacted cortical PF bone-FF plate systems; and (b) around 0.5 to 4–4.5% under each loading, i.e., either com-
pressive or combined (both compressive and torsional loads) loading at a time in the non-contacted
cortical PF bone-FF plate systems.
Ó 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-
nc-nd/4.0) Selection and Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International
Conference & Exposition on Mechanical, Material and Manufacturing Technology.

1. Introduction
The newly born infants or children under the age group of
0–3 years are at higher risk of fatal paediatric injuries as per the
report [1]. In our previous research work, we compared widely
used and biocompatible fracture fixation (FF) plates made up of
titanium alloys with recently developed FF plates made up of
magnesium alloys [2].
The traditional FF plates are made up of biocompatible titanium
alloys which have enough strength due to their high modulus to
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: nandssm@gmail.com (N.J. Kanu).
support fractured femur bones for their healing. As far as FF plates
are concerned, the report suggests that they are developed to bear
most of the loads and thus they shield the cortical fractured bone
from equivalent (von Mises) stresses [3]. H. Fouad [3] discussed
about non-contacted cortical bone-FF plate system and found sig-
nificant improvement in stress shielding response of FG plates in
presence of gap.
In the present investigation, finite element method is used to
perform static analysis of fractured paediatric femur (PF) bones
supported with FF bone plates. The newly developed functionally
graded (FG) prosthetic bone plate is graded stepwise in thickness
direction using suitable isotropic hydroxyapatite (Ha) and titanium
(Ti) biomaterials in Abaqus 6.12 as shown in Table 1. Furthermore,

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.08.740
2214-7853/Ó 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Selection and Peer-review under responsibility of the
scientific committee of the International Conference & Exposition on Mechanical, Material and Manufacturing Technology.

Please cite this article as: Nand Jee Kanu, D. Patwardhan, E. Gupta et al., Finite element analysis of mechanical response of fracture fixation functionally graded bone plate
at paediatric femur bone fracture site under compressive and torsional loadings, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.08.740
Nand Jee Kanu, D. Patwardhan, E. Gupta et al. Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Nomenclature

FF fracture fixation Ti titanium

PF paediatric femur CT computer tomography
FG functionally graded MIMICS medical imaging system
Ha hydroxyapatite DICOM digital imaging and communications in medicine

 k
PF bones assembled with FF plates are subjected to compressive z 1
and torsional loadings as well as combined loadings (both com- EL ¼ ðETi  EHa Þ þ þ EHa ð1Þ
h 2
pressive and torsional loads) and the cortical bone-FF plate sys-
tems are analyzed in ANSYS for their static responses in case of In the above equation (1), parameters such as EL ; ETi ; and EHa are
children under age group of 0–3 years. The FF bone plates are used used to express the Young’s moduli of the layer, titanium (Ti), and
to support fractured PF bones and assembled at a gap of 0.5 mm to hydroxyapatite (Ha), respectively. The symbol ‘k’ is used to express
support healing at the fracture site of the PF bones. the power law exponent which varies for individual homogeneous
layers from 0.2 to 3 in our case, i.e., from bottom to top in thickness

2. Materials and methods

2.1. Finite element modeling

The bone data (0.5 mm slice thickness, assigned for better geo-
metrical accuracy) scanned in computer tomography (CT) is shared
with medical imaging system (MIMICS) using digital imaging and
communications in medicine (DICOM) format. The 3D data are
shared with PTC Creo, and CATIA V5R19 to prepare assemblies of
the cortical bone-FF plate systems before their analysis using
ANSYS 15.0. The FF plates and screws mechanisms are improved
with the advent of new biocompatible FG plates, which not only
add strength to bones rather they also support better healing to
minimize the refracture of PF bones.

2.2. Meshing and boundary conditions

The solid 186 layered solid element (a higher order element)

having three degrees of freedom is used to mesh the PF bone-FF
plate system. Each element is having 20-nodes and is suitable for
quadratic displacement behavior. The PF bone-FF plate assemblies
are fine meshed with 8,631 elements and 15,608 nodes to get better
accuracy in static responses at the fracture sites of PF bone, and aid
in convergence test of the optimal mesh to overcome complexities
in computations.

2.3. Some briefs about functionally graded (FG)-fracture fixation (FF)

bone plate

The general guideline is referred to discuss the stepwise grada-

tion of functionally graded (FG) prosthetic bone plates in thickness
direction with suitable isotropic hydroxyapatite (Ha) and titanium
(Ti) biomaterials. The effective material property such as Young’s
modulus of each homogeneous layer is evaluated using equation (1).
Fig. 1. Functionally graded (FG)-fracture fixation (FF) bone plate graded stepwise in
thickness direction with isotropic Ha and Ti materials from bottom to top with
variation in ‘k’ from 0.2 to 3 in eight different homogeneous layers (each layer
having thickness as 0.5 mm).

Table 1
The material properties of PF bones and FF bone plates.

Properties of Bones [1] Properties of FF prosthetic bone plates [4]

Age of children Poisson’s Bone Density Modulus of Elasticity Material Modulus Poisson’s Density
Ratio (kg/m3) of Bone (GPa) (GPa) Ratio (kg/m3)
48 weeks(Male child) 0.342 346.6 17.25  Titanium alloys 110-120 0.3 4500
 FG-Titanium (Ti) 120 0.3 4500
 FG-Hydroxyapatite (Ha) 40 0.3 3161
96 weeks(Female child) 0.342 346.6 18.48  Titanium alloys 110-120 0.3 4500
 FG-Titanium (Ti) 120 0.3 4500
 FG-Hydroxyapatite (Ha) 40 0.3 3161
144 weeks(Female child) 0.342 480 19.09  Titanium alloys 110-120 0.3 4500
 FG-Titanium (Ti) 120 0.3 4500
 FG-Hydroxyapatite (Ha) 40 0.3 3161

2
Nand Jee Kanu, D. Patwardhan, E. Gupta et al. Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 2. The deformtion-stress responses of cortical femur bone-FG plate system. (a) The range of maximum and minimum directional deformations at 700 N compressive load
[4] is referred to validate the corresponding deformation results (m) in present investigation (b). (c) The range of maximum and minimum equivalent (von Mises) stresses at
700 N compressive load [4] is referred to validate the corresponding equivalent (von Mises) stresses (MPa) in present investigation (d).

Fig. 3. Validation of equivalent (von Mises) stresses in FG bone plate under static loadings. (a) Equivalent (von Mises) stresses are compared to be in agreement with
published source [4] under compressive loading. (b) Equivalent (von Mises) stresses are compared to be in agreement with published source [4] under torsional loading.

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Nand Jee Kanu, D. Patwardhan, E. Gupta et al. Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 4. The static responses of the contacted cortical PF bone-FF plate systems of children under age group of 0–3 years. (a) The compressive deformation (m) response of
cortical femur bone-FF plate system with respect to ages of children (weeks). (b) The torsional deformation (m) response of cortical femur bone-FF plate system with respect
to ages of children (weeks). (c) The equivalent (von Mises) compressive stress (MPa) response of cortical femur bone-FF plate system with respect to ages of children (weeks).
(d) The equivalent (von Mises) torsional stress (MPa) response of cortical femur bone-FF plate system with respect to ages of children (weeks).

Fig. 5. Healing of a fractured bone with time.

direction of FG bone plate. The bottom layer of the FG bone plate is materials from bottom to top with variation in ‘k’ from 0.2 to 3
modeled with Ha (a soft material, compatible to bone tissue) hav- in eight different homogeneous layers (each layer having thickness
ing direct contact with fractured bone initially, to validate the as 0.5 mm) as shown in Fig. 1.
results in Section 2.4. The top layer of the FG bone plate is modeled
with Ti (comparatively harder material than Ha). The FG bone plate
is graded stepwise in thickness direction with isotropic Ha and Ti

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Nand Jee Kanu, D. Patwardhan, E. Gupta et al. Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 6. Three dimensional meshed view with detailed dimensioning of non-contacted PF bone-FG plate system for effective healing.

Table 2 of 0–3 years more effectively as compared to FF bone plate mod-

The material properties of non-contacted PF bone-FG plate system. eled with titanium alloy as shown in Fig. 4 (a)-(d).
The deformation in FG prosthetic bone plate is significantly
Elements Young’s modulus Poisson’s ratio
(GPa) reduced by around 70–90% under the compressive and torsional
loads of 700 N and 50 N.m, respectively, as compared to FF bone
PF bones As mentioned in As mentioned in
Table 1 Table 1 plate modeled with titanium alloy (Fig. 4 (a)-(b)). Similarly, equiv-
Fractured bone (1% healing) [3,5] 0.02 0.3 alent (von Mises) stresses in FG prosthetic bone plate are signifi-
Fractured bone (50% healing) [3,5] 10 0.3 cantly reduced by around 75–85% under the compressive and
Fractured bone (75% healing) [3,5] 15 0.3 torsional loads of 700 N and 50 N.m, respectively as compared to
Ti alloy bone plate As mentioned in As mentioned in
FF bone plate modeled with titanium alloy (Fig. 4 (c)-(d)). There-
Table 1 Table 1
FG bone plate As mentioned in As mentioned in fore, the newly developed FG prosthetic bone plate could be a bet-
Table 1 Table 1 ter alternative to the commercially available and widely used
fracture fixation (FF) bone plate made up of titanium alloy.

2.4. Validation study of 3D models

The model of cortical bone-FG plate system is validated with
the results published by P.K. Satapathy et al. [4] as shown in Figs. 2
and 3. The femur bone supported with FG plate is analyzed under
similar loading conditions, i.e., under compressive loading for its
static responses such as compressive deformation (m) and equiva-
lent (von Mises) stress (MPa) at the fracture site (Fig. 2 (a)-(d)). The
assembly of cortical bone-FG plate system with constrained bot-
tom is subjected to a compressive load of 700 N at the femoral
head. The investigation shows maximum deflection (Fig. 2 (a)-
(b)) and equivalent (von Mises) stress (Fig. 2 (c)-(d)) as
0.0027404 m and 277.37 MPa, respectively. The results are in fairly
good agreement with the published source [4].
As the Ha layers of the FG bone plate ðk ¼ 0:2  1:5Þare in contact
with fractured femur bone, thus the equivalent (von Mises) stresses
are more in the soft region as compared to Ti layers ðk ¼ 1:5  3Þof
the FF plate under compressive and torsion loadings. Furthermore,
the equivalent (von Mises) stresses are observed to be more under
torsional load of 50 N.m as compared to compressive load of 700 N
in FG bone plate as shown in Fig. 3 (a)-(b).
3. Results and discussions
3.1. Study of static responses of the contacted cortical PF bone-FF plate
systems in relation to ages of children
The FG prosthetic bone plate shields the PF bone from equiva-
lent (von Mises) stresses in case of the children under age group
5
3.2. Study of static responses of non-contacted cortical PF bone-FG
plate system in healing of fractured bones
The tissues responsible for healing a simple bone fracture are
mainly of four types such as (a) osteoblasts, responsible for build-
ing up bone tissues, (b) osteoclasts, responsible for breaking the
bone tissues, (c) chondroblasts, responsible for building up carti-
lage tissue, and (d) fibroblasts, responsible for producing collagen
fibres (Fig. 5).
When a bone breaks, the first thing that takes place is the form-
ing of a blood clot within the gap that happened due to fracture.
Phagocytes (white blood cells) by time, clean germs and dead cells
in the gap. After the blood clots, the osteoblasts come in the picture
and start building up bone tissues. Then come osteoclasts, and they
start breaking the bone tissues. After osteoclasts, chondroblasts
start building up cartilage tissues which are mainly responsible
for healing the bone. Finally, fibroblasts come and they are respon-
sible for producing collagen fibres and thus filling the gap.
The FG plate is assembled with fractured PF femur bone at a gap
of 0.2 mm (Fig. 6) to maintain blood supplies in the gap and fur-
thermore, the chance of bone necrosis is minimized. The advantage
could be seen as the long-term effect of avoiding direct contact of
fractured bones with FF plates. As discussed in Section 2.3, the FG
plate is graded stepwise in thickness direction with two different
isotropic materials such as Titanium and hydroxyapatite (Ha) in
Abaqus 6.12.
Bone callus is a bony and cartilaginous material that forms a
connecting bridge across the bone fracture during healing. Within
one to two weeks after injury, a provisional callus forms, envelop-
Nand Jee Kanu, D. Patwardhan, E. Gupta et al. Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 7. The static responses of the non-contacted PF bone-FF plate systems for effective healing of children under age group of 0–3 years. (a) The equivalent (von Mises)
compressive stress (MPa) response of cortical PF bone-FF plate system with respect to ages of children (weeks) under compressive load of 700 N. (b) The equivalent (von
Mises) combined stress (compressive as well as torsional stresses both) (MPa) response of cortical PF bone-FF plate system with respect to ages of children (weeks) under
compressive load of 700 N and combined load of 50 N.m.

ing the fracture site. The callus is reabsorbed over a period of
months or years (Table 2).
The FG prosthetic non-contacted bone plates shield the PF
bones from equivalent (von Mises) stresses in case of the chil-
dren under age group of 0–3 years more effectively as compared
to FF bone plates modeled with titanium alloy under compres-
sive load of 700 N and combined load (compressive load of
700 N and torsional load of 50 N.m) in all circumstances, i.e.,
1%, 50%, and 75% progressive fracture healing of PF bones
(Fig. 7 (a)-(b)).

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Nand Jee Kanu, D. Patwardhan, E. Gupta et al.
4. Summary of discussions and recommendations
The research provides an in-depth understanding of the advan-
tages and limitations of contacted and non-contacted FF prosthetic
bone plates such as FG and Titanium alloy bone plates when the
entire system of cortical PF bone-FF bone plate assemblies are sub-
jected to either compressive load or torsional load at a time, or
either compressive load or combined load (both compressive and
torsional loads) at a time. In all cases, newly developed FG bone
plates are dominating over commercially available FF prosthetic
bone plates made up of titanium alloy.
The FG prosthetic bone plates (Section 3.1) as compared to tita-
nium alloy FF plates, are more effective in shielding the PF bones
from equivalent (von Mises) stresses in case of the children under
the age group of 0–3 years (Fig. 4 (a)-(b)) as the deformation in FG
prosthetic bone plate is significantly reduced by around 70–90%
under the compressive and torsional loads of 700 N and 50 N.m,
respectively. Furthermore, the equivalent (von Mises) stress in FG
prosthetic bone plate is significantly reduced by around 75–85%
under the compressive and torsional loads of 700 N and 50 N.m,
respectively (Fig. 4 (c)-(d)).
The equivalent (von Mises) stresses in FG prosthetic non-
contacted (Section 3.2) bone plates are significantly reduced by
around 0.5–1%, 2–3%, and 3–4% under the compressive loading as
compared to FF bone plates modeled with titanium alloy in 1%,
50%, and 75% progressive fracture healing of PF bones (Fig. 7 (a)).
Furthermore, the equivalent (von Mises) stresses in FG prosthetic
non-contacted bone plates are significantly reduced by around
0.5–1%, 4–5%, and 3.5–4.5% under the combined loading as com-
pared to FF bone plates modeled with titanium alloy in 1%, 50%,
and 75% progressive fracture healing of PF bones (Fig. 7 (b)).
In all cases, i.e., 1%, 50%, and 75% progressive fracture healing of
PF bones (Section 3.2), combined loads are responsible to generate
more equivalent (von Mises) stresses in FF bone plates as com-
Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx
pared to compressive loads. Thus, the corresponding stresses are
more at fracture sites of PF bone under combined loading. Simi-
larly, in all cases, i.e., 1%, 50%, and 75% progressive fracture healing
of PF bones, FG bone plates are less stressed as compared to tita-
nium alloy FF bone plates, and thus FG bone plates shield PF bones
more effectively from equivalent (von Mises) stresses under com-
pressive and combined loadings.
As healing takes place, i.e., 1% to 75% (Section 3.2), the equiva-
lent (von Mises) stresses in FF bone plates are reduced signifi-
cantly. The similar trend, i.e., reduction in equivalent (von Mises)
stresses in FF bone plates is observed as children grow with time.
Therefore, the newly developed FG prosthetic bone plate is surely
going to be a better alternative to the commercially available and
widely used fracture fixation (FF) bone plate made up of titanium
alloy in case of progressive fracture healing of PF bone. The FG bone
plates not only provide better protection to PF bone against equiv-
alent (von Mises) stresses, rather they are also suitable to bone tis-
sues during progressive fracture healing.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.
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