Finite Element Analysis of the Contact Mechanics of Ceramic-on-Ceramic Hip Resurfacing Prostheses

Ceramics are good alternative to metal as bearing couple materials because of their better wear resistance. A Finite Element(FE) study was performed to investigate the contact mechanics and stress distribution of Ceramic-on-Ceramic (COC) hip resurfacingprostheses. It was focused in particular on a parametric study to examine the effects of radial clearance, loading,alumina coating on the implants, bone quality, and fixation of cup-bone interface. It was found that a reduction in the radialclearance had the most significant effect on the predicted contact pressure distribution among all of the parameters considered inthis study. It was determined that there was a significant influence of non-metallic materials, such as the bone underneath thebearing components, on the predicted contact mechanics. Stress shielding within the bone tissue was found to be a major concernwhen regarding the use of ceramic as an alternative to metallic resurfacing prostheses. Therefore, using alumina implantswith a metal backing was found to be the best design for ceramic resurfacing prostheses in this study. The loading, bone quality,and acetabular cup fixation conditions were found to have only minor effects on the predicted contact pressure distribution alongthe bearing surfaces.

Finite element analysis of elasto-plastic plate bending problems using transition rectangular plate elements

In this work, the finite element analysis of the elasto-plastic plate bending problems is carried out using transition rectangular plate elements. The shape functions of the transition plate elements are derived based on a practical rule. The transition plate elements are all quadrilateral and can be used to obtain efficient finite element models using minimum number of elements. The mesh convergence rates of the models including the transition elements are compared with the regular element models. To verify the developed elements, simple tests are demonstrated and various elasto-plastic problems are solved. Their results are compared with ANSYS results.

Study of adaptive finite element techniques for contact problem in elastic bodies

The adaptive element techniques of contact problem are studied by means of penalty method, and the error estimators are discussed. Based on error estimators, algorithm of the adaptive element techniques is developed, then the Gauss - Newton iterations are used which allow the nonlinear problem to be transformed into a sequence of linear sub- problems then easily solved. In addition, the algorithm can be applied into the simulation of de -bonding of fiber - reinforced composites.

Mathematical Description and Finite Element Equation of 3D Coupled Thermo-elastic Contact Problem

Through defining slide yield function and floating potential function of thermo-contact surface, the complementary equation of thermo-contact boundary has been reached, the fundamental equations to solve 3D thermo-contact coupled problem have been listed. On this foundation, the finite element equation and definite solution condition of contact heat transfer have been given out. Based on virtual work principle and contact element technology, the finite element equation of 3D elastic contact system has been deduced under the effect of thermal stress. The pseudo load brought by contact gap have been introduced into this equation in order to reflect the contact state change. During iteration, once contact rigidity matrix is formed, it won’t change, which will make calculation reduce greatly.

Arc-length technique for nonlinear finite element analysis

Nonlinear solution of reinforced concrete structures, particularly complete load-deflection response, requires tracing of the equilibrium path and proper treatment of the limit and bifurcation points. In this regard, ordinary solution techniques lead to instability near the limit points and also have problems in case of snap-through and snap-back. Thus they fail to predict the complete load-displacement response. The arc-length method serves the purpose well in principle, received wide acceptance in finite element analysis, and has been used extensively. However modifications to the basic idea are vital to meet the particular needs of the analysis. This paper reviews some of the recent developments of the method in the last two decades, with particular emphasis on nonlinear finite element analysis of reinforced concrete structures.

Finite Element Analysis of Fretting Behavior Between an Engine Cylinder Block and a Main Bearing Cap

The finite element analysis of the fretting behavior between a cylinder block and a main bearing cap is presented. The stresses, relative fretting slip, frettin g friction work parameter W and crack initiation location parameter Gon the fretting contact surface of the cylinder block are obtained and analyzed. It shows that the fretting fatigue problem of the cylinder block can be quantitat ively explained by WorG. The effects of pretightening force, friction factor and material combination of the cylinder block and the main bearing cap are studied. The computational results indicate that the fretting fatigue of the cylinder block can be allayed by increasing the elastic modulus of the cylinder block, but not by changing the other two factors.

Finite Element Analysis of 6300 Deep Groove Ball Bearing

Rolling bearing is widely used in mechanical support, its general components are the inner ring, outer ring, the ball, retainer etc.. Now many companies in developed countries and university in the rolling bearing as the research object, and has made great progress in design theory, the experiment method and production technology etc. We will use the finite element ANSYS to establish the model of deep groove ball bearing. Through the contact analysis, we can get the contact stress between the rings and balls, strain, contact state, penetration, sliding distance and the friction stress distribution. These values are compared to the theoretical values with Hertz theory, and they have better consistency, provide the good theoretical basis for the optimization design of rolling bearings.

Finite Element Analysis of the Ramberg-Osgood Bar

In this work, we present a priori error estimates of finite element approximations of the solution for the equilibrium equation of an axially loaded Ramberg-Osgood bar. The existence and uniqueness of the solution to the associated nonlinear two point boundary value problem is established and used as a foundation for the finite element analysis.

EFFECTIVE NUMERICAL METHODS FOR ELASTO-PLASTIC CONTACT PROBLEMS WITH FRICTION

Several effective numerical methods for solving the elasto-plastic contact problems with friction are pres- ented.First,a direct substitution method is employed to impose the contact constraint conditions on condensed finite ele- ment equations,thus resulting in a reduction by half in the dimension of final governing equations.Second,an algorithm composed of contact condition probes and elasto-plastic iterations is utilized to solve the governing equation,which distinguishes two kinds of nonlinearities,and makes the solution unique.In addition,Positive-Negative Sequence Modifica- tion Method is used to condense the finite element equations of each substructure and an analytical integration is intro- duced to determine the elasto-plastic status after each time step or each iteration,hence the computational efficiency is en- hanced to a great extent.Finally,several test and practical examples are pressented showing the validity and versatility of these methods and algorithms.

Approximation of thermoelasticity contact problem with nonmonotone friction

The paper presents the formulation and approximation of a static thermoelasticity problem that describes bilateral frictional contact between a deformable body and a rigid foundation. The friction is in the form of a nonmonotone and multivalued law. The coupling effect of the problem is neglected. Therefore, the thermic part of the problem is considered independently on the elasticity problem. For the displacement vector, we formulate one substationary problem for a non-convex, locally Lipschitz continuous functional representing the total potential energy of the body. All problems formulated in the paper are approximated with the finite element method.

Analysis of Leakage in Bolted-Flanged Joints Using Contact Finite Element Analvsis

The evolution of leakage is studied using detailed contact finite element analysis. The distribution of stress at the gasket is analyzed using a contact condition based on slide-line elements using ABAQUS, a commercial finite element code, Slide-line elements also take into account pressure penetration as contact that is lost between flange and gasket. Results are presented for a particular flange, a raised face flange sealed by a mild steel gasket. A comparison of the results from the gasket contact analysis and the contact conditions specified by the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, Sections VIII, Division 1 shows that the conditions specified in the ASME Code predict leakage relatively accurately.

A MIXED FINITE ELEMENT METHOD FOR THE CONTACT PROBLEM IN ELASTICITY

Based on the analysis of [7] and [10], we present the mixed finite element approximation of the variational inequality resulting from the contact problem in elasticity. The convergence rate of the stress and displacement field are both improved from O（h3/4） to quasi-optimal O（h│logh│^1/4）. If stronger but reasonable regularity is available, the convergence rate can be optimal O（h）.

ON THE ERROR ESTIMATE OF LINEAR FINITE ELEMENT APPROXIMATION TO THE ELASTIC CONTACT PROBLEM WITH CURVED CONTACT BOUNDARY

In this paper, the linear finite element approximation to the elastic contact problem with curved contact boundary is considered. The error bound O(h[sup ?]) is obtained with requirements of two times continuously differentiable for contact boundary and the usual regular triangulation, while I.Hlavacek et. al. Obtained the error bound O(h[sup ?]) with requirements of three times continuously differentiable for contact boundary and extra regularities of triangulation (c.f. [2]). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Finite element analysis of tibio-femoral contact mechanics of a customised knee spacer

With one-third of patients having osteoarthritis predominantly in one compartment of the knee,unicompartmental knee spacers have been introduced as a less invasive alternative to total knee replacement.However,patients with the knee spacer implanted were seen to have persistent pain,resulting in high revision rates.A static finite element model of the knee and its interaction with a knee spacer implant at full extension and 90°flexion was used to investigate the tibio-femoral contact mechanics of the knee joint after a knee spacer surgery.Three different knee spacer designs(contoured,flat and C-shaped)were modelled and prescribed with cobalt-chrome,ultra-high molecular polyethylene and polyurethane material properties.The results suggested that a softer spacer is generally preferred as this helps in the conformity of knee spacer to the condyle,effectively distributing the load subjected to the implant.Flat spacers that result in high stresses resulting from lower contact areas should be avoided.

A mixed finite element method for the unilateral contact problem in elasticity

In this paper, we provide a new mixed finite element approximation of the variational inequality resulting from the unilateral contact problem in elasticity. We use the continuous piecewise P2-P1 finite element to approximate the displacement field and the normal stress component on the contact region. Optimal convergence rates are obtained under the reasonable regularity hypotheses. Numerical example verifies our results.

A pseudo-coupled numerical approach for stability analysis of frozen soil slopes based on finite element limit analysis method

To simplify the stability analysis of frozen soil slope, a pseudo-coupled numerical approach is developed. In this approach, the coupled heat transfer and water flow in frozen soils are simulated first, and based on the computed thermal-hydro field, the stability of frozen soil slope is evaluated. Although the shear strength for frozen soil is very complicated and is usually represented by a nonlinear MC failure criterion, a simple linear MC yield criterion is utilized. In this method, the internal friction angle is expressed as a function of volumetric ice content and the cohesion is fitted as a simple bilinear expression of Tand volumetric water content. To assess slope stability, the limit analysis is employed in conjunction with the recently developed a-section search algorithm. A frozen soil slope example is used to examine the proposed pseudo-coupled numerical approach, and numerical studies validate its effectiveness. Based on numerical results, it is seen that slope stability may be remarkably influenced by warming air （or grotmd surface） temperature. With increasing ground surface temperature, slope stability indicated by FOS may reduce to 1.0, implying that wanning air temperature could be a trigger of frozen soil slope failure.

A WEIGHTED PENALTY FINITE ELEMENT METHOD FOR THE ANALYSIS OF POWER-LAW FLUID FLOW PROBLEMS

In this paper, a new finite element method for the flow analysis of the viscous incompressible power-law fluid is proposed by the use of penalty-hybrid/mixed finite element formulation and by the introduction of an alternative perturbation, which is weighted by viscosity, of the continuity equation. A numerical example is presented to exhibit the efficiency of the method.

Finite element synthesized analysis of the forming process of spiral welded pipe

Numerical simulation concerning the forming and welding process of spiral welded pipe was conducted, which included three steps ： the first step was the stress analysis when the spiral was formed, and then the stress was regarded as initial condition of melding during the temperature field analysis in the process of welding, the last step was the thermal stress analysis of the weld seam after the welding was over. Moreover, when the steel strip was pushed, the stress was also calculated by non-linearity contact technology using Abaqus Software. By finite element modeling and calculating of the forming and welding process of the spiral welded pipe, the key points of the multi-fields synthetic simulating were studied and discussed.

Strategies for h-Adaptive Refinement for a Finite Element Treatment of Harmonic Oscillator Schrodinger Eigenproblem

A Schrodinger eigenvalue problem is solved for the 219 quantum simple harmonic oscillator using a finite element discretization of real space within which elements are adaptively spatially refined. We compare two competing methods of adaptively discretizing the real-space grid on which computations are performed without modifying the standard polynomial basis-set traditionally used in finite element interpolations; namely, （i） an application of the Kelly error estimator, and （ii） a refinement based on the local potential level. When the performance of these methods are compared to standard uniform global refinement, we find that they significantly improve the total time spent in the eigensolver.

Three-dimensional finite element analysis of shallow indentation of rough strain-hardening surface

Three-dimensional finite element modeling of the contact between a rigid spherical indenter and a rough surface is presented when considering both the loading and unloading phases. The relationships among the indentation load, displacement, contact area, and mean contact pressure for both loading and unloading are established through a curve fitting using sigmoid logistic and power law functions. The contact load is proportional to the contact area, and the mean contact pressure is related to the characteristic stress, which is dependent on the material properties. The residual displacement is proportional to the maximum indentation displacement. A proportional relationship also exists for plastically dissipated energy and work conducted during loading. The surface roughness results in an effective elastic modulus calculated from an initial unloading stiffness several times larger than the true value of elastic modulus. Nonetheless, the calculated modulus under a shallow spherical indentation can still be applied for a relative comparison.