Predicting Friction of Total Joint Replacement Bearings

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Whilst the wear of total joint replacements has been the focus of many clinical and pre-clinical studies, the friction acting at the sliding interface of the bearing component has not received the same attention. As orthopaedic technologies progress there is a need to better predict friction and understand its systemic effects on device longevity. Due to the use of new materials and designs, friction at the bearing surfaces has become more relevant for implant interfaces between modular components and the fixation to bone, both of which are implicated in clinical failure. Despite five decades of pre-clinical simulation of total joint replacements, a framework for the accurate prediction of friction when subjected to established pre-clinical testing methodologies does not exist. The aim of this project is to produce a computational framework for predicting friction and wear within a joint replacement bearing with concurrent experimental validation. Starting with a surface-scale mixed lubrication friction model, this will be extended to produce a multiscale computational simulation of the joint replacement bearing. This project will go beyond current phenomenological wear and lubrication models to provide a novel multiscale mixed lubrication (with elastohydrodynamic lubrication and contact mechanics) model of friction and wear.