Computational and Experimental Fatigue Analysis of Contoured Spinal Rods

Posterior fixation with contoured rods is an established methodology for the treatment of spinal deformities. Both uniform industrial preforming and intraoperative contouring introduce tensile and compressive plastic deformations, respectively, at the concave and at the convex sides of the rod. The purpose of this study is to develop a validated numerical framework capable of predicting how the fatigue behavior of contoured spinal rods is affected by residual stresses when loaded in lordotic and kyphotic configurations. Established finite element models (FEM) describing static contouring were implemented as a preliminary simulation step and were followed by subsequent cyclical loading steps. The equivalent Sines stress distribution predicted in each configuration was compared to that in straight rods (SR) and related to the corresponding experimental number of cycles to failure. In the straight configuration, the maximum equivalent stress (441  MPa) exceeds the limit curve, as confirmed by experimental rod breakage after around 1.9 × 105 loading cycles. The stresses further increased in the lordotic configuration, where failure was reached within 2.4  × 104 cycles. The maximum equivalent stress was below the limit curve for the kyphotic configuration (640  MPa), for which a run-out of 106 cycles was reached. Microscopy inspection confirmed agreement between numerical predictions and experimental fatigue crack location. The contouring technique (uniform contourin...
Source: Journal of Biomechanical Engineering - Category: Biomedical Engineering Source Type: research