Math1 Comput. Model&g, Vol.I I, pp. 331-334, 1988 0895.7177/s $3.00 + 0.

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BIOMECHANICS I

STRESS SIN'.XtARITIES
IN THE ELASTICANALYSISOF
'IHETIEIAL CCWCNEW OF ORTHOPEDICIMPLANT

A.B. Stricklandand T.P. Andriacchi

DepartmentoE Ortlnopadic
Sugery
Rush-Presbyterian-StDuke's Mica1 Center
1653 West CongressParkway
Chicago,Illinois 60612

Abstract. Artificial joints have been used to replacearthriticor

degeneratedjoints for a number of years. A particularproblem is the
fixation of porous coated metal componentsto the bone in which they
are implanted. The surfaceof a knee prosthesis is pressed into the
tibia1 plateau with short pegs that anchor the prosthesis into the
bone. The peg-plate boundary contains ninety degree corners which
will produce disruptions in the stress fieldof the surroundingbone.
The Airy stress functionwith an assumed singularitywas used to find
the stress magnitudes near the regionsof high stresspotential. The
local effect of the resulting stress gradients are critical to
understanding the bone retiling and ingrowththat takes place around
the prosthesis.

Keywords. total joint replacement,stress singularity,

porous ingrowth.

with short pegs that anchor the prosthesis

Replacement, by artificial means, of into the bone. The peg-plate boundary
degenerated or arthritic joints has been a contains go-degreecornerswhich will prcduce
standard orthopedicprocedurefor many years. disruptions in the stress field of the
Prostheseshave been developedfor most human surrounding bona. The goal of this study was
joints. The ones most prone to failureare to examine the exact solutions of these
those of the weight 'bearingjoints. boundary value problems in linearelasticity
and to comparethem to approximate solutions
Replacing the joint surface is a complex (finiteelementmethod).
engineering problem. Loads on the hip and
knee joint can be 2 to 3 times body weight in
the activitiesof daily living. Only certain i%DEL E'ORTHE MATERIALBEUAVIOR
materials are compatible with human tissue. LINEAR ELASTICITY
In addition, the mobility or freedom of
motion of the joint must approximate the TO ascertain the distribution of stress,
natural joint. strain and displacement within an elastic
body subject to a prescribed system of
A key problem in the design of joint forces, several things must be considered.
repLacement parts is the fixation of these These are physical laws, materialproperties,
components to the bone in which they are are geometryand surface forces. The mathemat-
implanted. Until relatively recently, joint ical statementsare as follows:
replacements were always cementedinto place
with polymethylmethacryLate. In recent 1. Equations of equilibrium must be
years, the use of total joints has expanded satisfied throughout the body (in
to youngerpatients because of a technology indicialnotation)
t'nateliminates the need for cement and
allows the bone to grow into the surface of u,j,j
=0
the artificial joint. In developingthese it
is necessaryto assess whetherbone will grow where body forcesare absent and
in and remain for long-term ingrowth. The 0 = stress (1)
analysis of the stresses in the prosthesis
and the surrounding bone will lead to a 2. Linear elastic relations must apply to
prediction of the success or failure of a the material.
prosthesisdesign.
oil-c IlkI ‘kl
One particular problem is related to the
artifical knee. The surface of the knee where c is a tensor of constants and
prosthesis is pressed into the tibia1plateau e= strain (2)

331
332 Proc. 6th Int. Conf. on Mathematical
3. Components of strain, related to the
derivatives of displacement, must be
compatiblewith one another.
%kk+ - ',kyk-"k'lk= 0
'kk,,,
4. Stress, strain and displacement fields
must conform to the conditionsof loading
imposedat the boundaries.
SIKJJLARITYSOLUIION
There are many theories in solid mechanics
that could pertain to the problem of a peg
pushed into a bony continuum. Here, the best
approach seemd to be to find a way to
"correct" linear elasticity for the
discontinuityin the stress field imposed by
the peg.
In the exact solutions of boundary value
problems in linear elasticity, the stress
field is found to have singularitiesat the
corners of plates and points at which
boundary conditions are discontinuous
(England,1971). Physically, these are high
stress regions where damage to the material
could occur. However, in the case of bone,
some kind of exaggerated responsecould take
place.
The key assumption in this study was that the
area of bone between the tibia1 plateau and
peg, and the area around the bottom corner of
the peg could be approximated as wedges of
material with tractions on the boundaries
(Figure 1). The singular point is at the
location where the local radial coordinate
(r) is zero.
aska
Figure 1. Schematicof Peg-plateau-bone
me1
To use Airy Stress Functionprocedure (Airy,
1862), a potential function is assumed for
the stress fields that is self-equilibrating
and that satisfies the compatibility
condition. For the problem of the wedge
loaded with boun.larytractions, it is easier
to work in cylindrical coordinates with the
singularpoint assumed to be at r equal to 0.
The singular form for the stresses is
(Williams,1952):
a= r-'lF(
@ )
Model&q
where A is the unknown order of the
singularity and F(O ) are functions in the
circumferentialcoordinate.
(3) The four boundary stress of the wedge are
then a system of four equations with
homogeneous and inhomogeneous parts. The
homogeneous solution yields the power of r
dependency of the stresses,the inhomogeneous
solution ( ,l=O) satisfies the boundary
conditions and is not dependenton the radial
coordinate. In general, the geometry of the
wedge influences the magnitude of the
singularity and the boundary conditions
determine whetherone exists (England,1971).
The clamped-freecondition was used to find
in the homogeneous case. As energy in the
local field is constrained to be finite,
is boundedby 0 and 1.
RESULTS
The r-I factor magnifies the stress level
wnen r is less than 1 and diminishes it when
r is greater than 1. The effect of the
singularityreally only applies in the near
vicinity of the singular point, the size of
the vicinity depends on the scale of the
problem. A typical distanceout to the edge
of the component from the peg would be 1
centimeter. The stress concentrationsthat
would occur are in a small but crucial area
of the bone surranding the implantof around
1 millimeter.
Singular stress fields were found for the
corner of the wedge between the tibia1
plateau and the peg and at the bottom corner
of the peg. When the clamped-free
homogeneous boundary conditions were used,
two differentvalues of resulted from the
two cases. In the first case, was equal to
-24 and in the second case, was equal to
.66. These values of J indicated the
strength of the singularity, implying a
steeper stress gradient around the bottom
corner of the peg.
This report will show the radial and
compressive stresses in three areas of
interest:
1. A line from the peg-plateaucorner along
the undersideof the plateau.
2. A line along the surfaceof the peg.
3. A line out radially from the bottom of
the peg.
Both the results from the singularity
solutionand two dimensional finite elements
will be shown. The loading is a constant
compressive force of 1000 non-dimensional
force units along the plateauboundary.
The compressive stress along the undersideof
the plateau (shown in Figure 2) drops
approaching the free edge. The stress
magnification in the singularity model is
seen in the region of r less than 1
(4) millimeter. The value of the singularity is
-24.
 Proc. 6th Int. Conf. on Mathematical Modelling 333

Compressive Stress Along the Plateau Figures 3 and 4 show the compressive and
soI=- b, &Lb - shear stresses in the bone next to the peg.
The singularity model shows higher stress
levels than the finite element model in the
compressive stress case. Shear stressesare
much lower in magnitude in both models and
there was no pattern in the stress field of
the finiteelement mxlel.
Figures 5 and 6 show the stressesstartingat
the bottom point of the peg and moving away
from this corner. Again, the shear stresses
are lower than the compressive stresses. Of
note, is the steep stress gradient shown by
the singularitymodel in the shear stresses.
The finite elementtie1 shows no gradient in
this case.

Stresses Away Prom the Bottom Corner

BdUUOlVbJWa-

Figure 2. CompressiveStressesAlong
the Plateau
Solutionsby Both Models.
Compressive Stress Along the Peg

100 -
too - CompressiveStressesAway
140- From the Bottom Corner
‘30 1 # I Solutionsby Both Models.
0 P 1 .

Figure 3. CompressiveStress Along the peg Shear Stresses. Bottom Corner

Solutionsby Both Models.
solUUoorb, Boa ModaL

Shear Stress Along the Peg

+ +
00

- b=-)
0 -w + ilPt(rdanmt
Figure 6. Shear StressesAway From
Figure 4. Shear Stress Along the peg the Bottom Corner
Solutionsby both Models. Solutionsby Both Models.
334 Proc. 6rh Int. Cottf. on Mathematical Modelling

DISCUSSION REFERENFS

It should be taken into consideration that Airy, G.B. (1862). Brit. Assoc. Advan. Sci.
stress levels are probably higher than that Rept.
predicted by a standard finiteelement model
in any location where there is a boundary England,A.H. (1971). On Stress Singulari-
condition incompatibility. There are ties in Linear Elasticity. dInt J.
specialized elements for cracks and other Engng. Sci., 9,571-85.
irregularities includedin some of the finite
element packages. However, the order of the Williams, M.L. (1952). Stress Singularities
singularity in the case of a wedge depends Resulting from various Boundary
specificallyon the geometry. Conditions in Angular Corners of Plates
in Extension. J. Appl. Mech., 19,526-28.
The use of a singularity function seems to
have a natural application to the Turner, et al. (1986). Tibia1 Component
porous-coated tibia1 component and bone Fixation in Canine Total Knee
geometry. l'hetrends in the resulting stress Arthroplasty.Trans. Sot. Biomat.,9,173.
pattern are consistent with bone ingrowth
patterns seen in-vivo (Turner, 1986). The
locations of stress concentration shown in
the resultsare where bone tended to condense
in the experimentalprostheses.