Premium
In vitro contact stress distribution on the femoral condyles
Author(s) -
Brown Thomas D.,
Shaw Daniel T.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
journal of orthopaedic research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.041
H-Index - 155
eISSN - 1554-527X
pISSN - 0736-0266
DOI - 10.1002/jor.1100020210
Subject(s) - contact mechanics , stress (linguistics) , distribution (mathematics) , materials science , structural engineering , engineering , mathematics , finite element method , mathematical analysis , philosophy , linguistics
Contact stress distributions were measured across the tibiofemoral joints of 11 fresh‐frozen normal cadaver specimens. Local stress magnitudes were sensed by arrays of miniature piezoressistive transducers inset superficially in the cartilage of the femoral condyles. Knee joints were tested at 0, 10, 20, and 30° of flexion and later retested at 0° following medial and dual meniscectomies. For the intact joint, both the spatial mean and peak local contact stresses rose approximately linearly with the joint resultant, reaching levels of 2.6 and 8.0 MPa, respectively, at 3 kN of applied loading. Flexion angle variations in the range studied failed to cause significant changes in the major contact parameters. Although meniscectomies involved contact area reductions and consequent stress increases, such effects were more moderate than results previously seen for static loading of the tibial plateau.