Can Transient Simulations Improve Lower Limb-Prosthesis Interaction Analysis?

Human gait is a highly dynamic process; however, most numerical analyses to simulate a lower limb prosthesis wearer are still performed using an implicit static method. To account for the dynamic effects, a transient numerical simulation was performed in this study, simulating a gait cycle of a lower limb-prosthesis system. Donning of the socket followed by heel strike and push-off conditions of the gait were analysed using a recently developed generic transtibial limb model representing an average transtibial amputee. The static results previously obtained were compared with the transient simulation and the results in terms of contact pressure at residual limb-liner interface and von-Mises stresses in the prosthetic socket were evaluated. The numerical results show a significant difference between the transient and static numerical simulations due to the dynamic effect incorporated in the numerical analysis, indicating a need to include these effects to obtain more realistic conditions.