Analysis of the effect of the forces during gait on the fracture behaviour in cement of reconstructed acetabulum

In this study, the finite element method was used to analyse the crack behaviour in the cement of reconstructed acetabulum by computing the stress intensity factors at the crack tip. Three load cases are examined. These cases present arbitrary directions of the resultant hip force during gait (see work of W. Krause, R.S. Mathis, J. Biomed. Mater. Res.: Applied Biomaterials 22 (1988) 37–53.). The effect of the crack orientation in the cement mantle is also analysed. The obtained results show that the cement mantle is subjected to a compressive stresses under load case 1. However; under load cases 2 and 3, a small region in the cement is subjected to tensile stresses. The risk of crack initiation and propagation exists under load cases 2 and 3 because the acrylic cement do not resists to the tensile load well. In addition, the risk of crack propagation is important for some crack orientations.