IJIRST International Journal for Innovative Research in Science & Technology| Volume 2 | Issue 04 | September 2015

ISSN (online): 2349-6010

Optimization of Femoral Intramedullary Nailing

using Finite Element Analysis
Mohd. Shahjad A. Sheikh
M. Tech Student
Department of Mechanical Engineering
ACET Nagpur, Maharashtra, India

Prof. A. P. Ganorkar
Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
ACET Nagpur, Maharashtra, India

Abstract
The femur is the only bone located within the human thigh. It is both the longest and the strongest bone in the human body,
extending from the hip to the knee. The method most surgeons use for treating femoral shaft fractures is intramedullary nailing.
During this procedure, a specially designed metal rod is inserted into the marrow canal of the femur. The rod passes across the
fracture to keep it in position. An intramedullary nail can be inserted into the canal either at the hip or the knee through a small
incision. It is screwed to the bone at both ends. This keeps the nail and the bone in proper position during healing. Intramedullary
nails are usually made of titanium. They come in various lengths and diameters to fit most femur bones. But the titanium is very
costly metal; the cost of surgery is more. Therefore need for doing to find best alternative metal in low cost and the optimization
of cross section of the rod is carried out to provide the best strength to weight ratio.
Keywords: Marrow canal, intramedullary nailing, nail, knee
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

I. INTRODUCTION
A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the vertebral skeleton. Bones support and protect the various organs of the body,
produce red and white blood cells, store minerals and also enable mobility. Bone tissue is a type of dense connective tissue.
Bones come in a variety of shapes and sizes and have a complex internal and external structure. They are lightweight yet strong
and hard, and serve multiple functions. Mineralized osseous tissue or bone tissue, is of two types cortical and cancellous and
gives it rigidity and a coral-like three-dimensional internal structure. Other types of tissue found in bones include marrow,
endosteum, periosteum, nerves, blood vessels and cartilage.
Bone is an active tissue composed of different cells. Osteoblasts are involved in the creation and mineralisation of bone;
osteocytesand osteoclasts are involved in the reabsorption of bone tissue. The mineralised matrix of bone tissue has an organic
component mainly of collagen and an inorganic component of bone mineral made up of various salts.
In the human body at birth, there are over 270 bones, but many of these fuse together during development, leaving a total of 206
separate bones in the adult, not counting numerous small sesamoid bones. The largest bone in the body is the thigh-bone (femur)
and the smallest is the stapes in the middle ear.
The body of the femur (or shaft) is long, slender and almost cylindrical in form. It is a little broader above than in the canter,
broadest and somewhat flattened from before backward below. It is slightly arched, so as to be convex in front, and concave
behind, where it is strengthened by a prominent longitudinal ridge, the linea aspera which diverges proximal and distal as the
medial and lateral ridge. Proximal the lateral ridge of the linea aspera becomes the gluteal tuberosity while the medial ridge
continues as the pectineal line. Besides the linea aspera the shaft has two other bordes; a lateral and medial border. These three
bordes separates the shaft into three surfaces: One anterior, one medial and one lateral. Due to the vast musculature of the thigh
the shaft cannot be palpated.
The third trochanter is a bony projection occasionally present on the proximal femur near the superior border of the gluteal
tuberosity. When present, it is oblong, rounded, or conical in shape and sometimes continuous with the gluteal ridge. A structure
of minor importance in humans, the incidence of the third trochanter varies from 1772% between ethnic groups and it is
frequently reported as more common in females than in males.

II. LITERATURE REVIEW

A.E. Yousif, M.Y. Aziz [1] Biomechanics is a field that combines the disciplines of biology and engineering mechanics and
utilizes the tools of physics, mathematics, and engineering to quantitatively describe the properties of biological materials. Finite
element modeling has been widely used to describe the mechanical behavior of the long bones which have been created from CT
(Computer Tomography) images In this study a three dimensional model of the human femur bone has been developed and the
data associated with the hip contact forces for normal walking and standing up during one cycle has been employed on the femur
bone in order to investigate behavior of the femur bone during these activities. The finite element results (stresses) are obtained
and compared with previous studies.

All rights reserved by www.ijirst.org

123

Optimization of Femoral Intramedullary Nailing using Finite Element Analysis

(IJIRST/ Volume 2 / Issue 04/ 016)

Sowmianarayana. S. A. Chandrasekaran, R. Krishna Kumar [2] This paper presents to study the biomechanical behaviour of
the femur implant assembly during fixation of a simple transverse subtrochanteric fractured femur using a commonly known
implant called Proximal Femur Nail (PFN). Finite element Analysis tool is used to study the bio-mechanical behaviour of the
femur and the implant assembly. The standardized femur is downloaded from repository of the Society of Bio-Mechanical
Engineers and subsequently repaired to make it usable for this Finite Element Simulation. The modelling software Unigraphics
and finite element simulation software ANSYS are used for the present study.
A. Gupta, K.M. TSE [3] Mode shapes are very important in evaluating the behaviour of any structure to an external response.
In this work, FEA of femur bone was performed using a software Elmer. The natural frequencies and mode shapes for femur
bone were identified for fixed-fixed boundary condition.
The results were compared with the experimental results in literature and they were in good agreement. If the external
excitation frequency matches with one of the natural frequency of the system, it can lead to large vibrations due to resonance and
great damage to the structure. While designing any biomechanical equipment, or sports equipment, care should be taken that
external excitation does not coincide with the natural frequency of the femur bone as predicted. Else, the excitation can lead to
fracture of the bone which can be predicted by the mode shape at the corresponding natural frequency
H.G. Hanumantharaju1, Dr. H.K. Shivanand [4] These implants are expected to be Bio-Compatible & they should not cause
inflammation or rejection. An improved understanding of the mechanical parameters on different alternative materials used for
implants and comparing obtained results with existing medical reports. Best alternate material for human orthopedic implants
will be suggested.
D. Amalraju, Dr. A.K. Shaik Dawood [5] The Purpose of this work is Selection of locking plate material for surgical implants
plays a vital role in Femur shaft fracture healing process. Mostly used materials are Titanium. Through this static loading
condition and material comparison analysis we have found out the Titanium Implant mechanical properties is better than
Stainless Steel. So it can be left in the human body for a long term.
In opposite way if Stainless Steel implant is left for a long term it may fail due to cyclic loading conditions. Since Ti- 6Al-4V
material cost more, Titanium coat over the S.S can be used as an alternative for Re-Engineered Indian femur implant locking
plate

III. IDENTIFIED GAPS IN THE LITERATURE

Most of the researchers have investigated the biomechanical behavior of the femur with the hip contact forces for normal
condition, natural frequencies, etc. Limited work is being done on the study of the setting fracture femur shaft fractures is
intramedullary nailing. The purpose of this work is to investigate the alternative materials for human Orthopedic Implants which
is Bio-Compatible. Very limited work has been observed on the strength of facture femur shaft performance.

IV. PROBLEM FORMULATION

In this project the Optimization of Femoral Intramedullary nailing (Metal Rod) is performed using FEA. It will involve
changing the material from titanium to other materials which could significantly reduce the cost. Also, the optimization of cross
section of the rod is carried out to provide the best strength to weight ratio. Calculate the load bearing capacity of healthy bone
and broken Femoral Intramedullary nailing bone.

V. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
In present study, we create the CAD model of femur bone. Then analysis the healthy bone and calculate the load bearing
capacity. Generate the intramedullary nailing and analysis the strength. Comparison of Femoral Intramedullary nailing after
F.E.A. by changing material. Identify the significant parameters and optimization of identified parameters.

VI. CONCLUSIONS
The ANSYS will be applied to find an optimal setting of the intramedullary nailing. The result from the Analysis method
chooses an optimal solution from actual loading condition. Future investigation leaves a wide scope for the researcher to study
on optimization of Femoral Intramedullary nailing using F.E.A.

REFERENCES
[1]
[2]
[3]

A.E. Yousif, M.Y. Aziz, Biomechanical Analysis of the human femur bone during normal walking and standing up ISSN: 2250-3021 Volume 2, Issue 8
(August 2012), PP 13-19.
Sowmianarayanan.S, A.Chandrasekaran, R.Krishnakumar, Finite Element Analysis of Proximal Femur Nail for Subtrochanteric Fractured Femur ISSN
2250-3153 Volume 5, Issue 1, January 2015.
A. Gupta, K. M. Tse Vibration Analysis of Femur Bone Using Elmer Journal of Engineering Science and Technology Special Issue on ICMTEA 2013
Conference, December (2014) 12 19.

All rights reserved by www.ijirst.org

124

Optimization of Femoral Intramedullary Nailing using Finite Element Analysis

(IJIRST/ Volume 2 / Issue 04/ 016)
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
[11]
[12]
[13]
[14]

H.G. Hanumantharaju1, Dr. H.K .Shivanand Static Analysis of Bi-Polar Femur Bone Implant Using FEA International Journal of Recent Trends in
Engineering, Vol. 1, No. 5, May 2009.
D.Amalraju, Dr.A.K.Shaik Dawood Mechanical Strength Evaluation Analysis of Stainless Steel and Titanium Locking Plate for Femur Bone Fracture
IRACST Engineering Science and Technology: An International Journal (ESTIJ), ISSN: 2250-3498, Vol.2, No. 3, June 2012.
Raji Nareliya , Veerendra Kumar, Biomechanical Analysis of Human Femur Bone, International Journal of Engineering Science and Technology (IJEST)
, Vol. 3 , No. 4 , 2011, 3090-3094.
J. Perry, Gait analysis, normal and pathological function, 1 st ed., NJ: Slack, 1992, pp. 1-47, 111-129.
J.P. Paul , Comparison of EMG signals from leg muscles with the corresponding force actions calculated from walk path measurements , Human
Locomotor Eng , vol. 48A, 1971 , pp. 6-26 .
Lee B.H. , Kim J. K. , Kim Y. D. , Choi K. , and Lee K. H. , In vivo behavior and mechanical stability of surface modified titanium implants by plasma
spray coating and chemical treatments , Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part A , 69(2), 2004, 279285.
Baca V. , Horak Z. , Mikulenka P. , Dzupa V, Comparison of an inhomogeneous orthotropic and isotropic material models used for FE analyses, Medical
Engineering & Physics, 30(7) , 2008, pp.924-930.
David W. Wagner, Kaan Divringi, Can Ozcan, M. Grujicic, B. Pandurangan, A. Grujicic, Combined Musculoskeletal Dynamics/Structural Finite Element
Analysis of Femur Physiological Loads during Walking, Multidiscipline Modeling in Materials and Structures, Vol. 6(4), 2010, 417-43.
W. Chrzanowski, J. Marciniak, Biomechanical analysis of the femoral bone-interlocking intramedullary nail system. Proceedings of the 18th European
Conference on Biomaterials, 2003, Germany, 154.
Dieter Christian Wirtz, Thomas Pandorf, Frank Portheine, Klaus Radermacher, Norbert Schiffers, Andreas Prescher, Dieter Weichert, Fritz Uwe Niethard,
2003,Concept and development of an orthotropic FEmodel of the proximal femur, Journal of Biomechanics , 36, pp. 289293.
M. Vicecont, M., Casali, M., Massari, B., Cristofolini, L., Bassini, S., Toni, A., 1996, The standardized femur program proposal for a reference geometry
to be used for the creation of finite element models of the femur [letter; comment]. Journal of Biomechanics 29, pp-1241.

All rights reserved by www.ijirst.org

125