Limb asymmetry can, and often does, cause various health problems. Blount bone staples (clips) are used to correct such uneven growth. This article analyzes the performance of a biomechanical staple during bone (tibia) growth arrest. The staples considered in this study were made of 1.4441 stainless steel, the model of tibia consisted of two materials representing corticalis and spongiosis. Hooke’s law was used for modeling materials’ behaviors for finite element analysis (FEA). The maxima of stress and total staple displacement were evaluated using the finite element method and verification of the results, along with the determination of the maximum loading (growing) force that the staples are capable of withstanding, was performed experimentally. The presented method can be used to determine the safety and usability of staples for bone growth arrest. According to our results, the design of Blount staples considered in this paper is safe and suitable for orthopedic treatment.
This article deals with a new original analytical solution of deformation, force and stress states in wood screw joints up to the limit values of pulling out/breaking the screw. The screws are under tension. The wood-to-screw interaction is effectively simplified by introducing several physical model variants using a tangential elastic non-linear foundation. The experimental verification of the proposed models using pull-out tests (i.e., pulling out screws from dry spruce wood in laboratory conditions) confirms the correctness of the proposed models of the elastic linear/non-linear foundation. The validity of the model is also analytically and experimentally verified in the biomechanical model of pulling out screws from the femur of a bovine/human cadaver, which confirms and expands the validity of newly designed screw joint models outside the timber structure area.
1 June 2019 in Strojnícky časopis - Journal of Mechanical Engineering
The aim of this paper is the biomechanical evaluation of the interaction between load forces to which a sitting man and the seat are exposed. All loads, which consider actual anthropometry histograms of human population (i.e. segmentation of human weight, height, centroids, gravity and shape of seat) are determined using the direct Monte Carlo Method. All inputs are based on the theory of probability (i.e. random/probabilistic inputs and outputs with respect their variabilities). A simple plane model (i.e. probabilistic normal forces and bending moments) shows a sufficient stochastic/probabilistic evaluation connected with biomechanics, ergonomics, medical engineering (implants, rehabilitation, traumatology, orthopaedics, surgery etc.) or industrial design.
1 November 2019 in Strojnícky časopis - Journal of Mechanical Engineering
The aim of this paper is to determinate critical (tearing) force. This force is needed to be caused, for cannula and its securing fixation (in this case by tapes), to be torn out from patient’s body, (i.e. applications in medico-chirurgical branches). To determine this quantity, experimental approach was used, in which for more realistic approach real human cutis (skin) was used. Data acquired from this experiment may be later used in designing of a device for automatic winding of infusion tubes etc. Measurements were performed on porcine and human skin.
This article focuses on a type of surgical implant used in orthopaedics and traumatology—cannulated femoral nails. Femoral nails are used in medical treatment for purposes of osteosynthesis, i.e., when treating various types of complicated fractures, in this case fractures of the femur. The article investigates cases in which a nail has been implanted in the proximal part of the femur for a short time (with the fracture still not healed), compared with cases in which the bone has already healed. According to AO classification, examined fractures are described as AO 31B3 AO 32A3. The main focus is on strength-deformation analysis using the finite element method (FEM), which makes it possible to determine the behaviour of the femur-implant system. FEM analysis was used to compare 1.4441 steel nails made by two manufacturers, Medin (Czech Republic) and Tantum (Germany). Boundary conditions including external loading, prescribed supports and elastic foundation are defined. There were solved FEM analyses for five cases of healed femur and five cases of broken femur both including implants with prescribed collo-diaphyseal angles. The results of the analysis were used to assess stress-deformation states from the perspective of appropriateness for clinical treatment, biomechanical reliability and safety. All examined femoral nails are compared, safe and suitable for patient treatment.