<p>The extreme heterogeneity of amputee populations, caused by the wide range in patient demographics and comorbidities, makes empirical comparison of prosthesis performance extremely difficult. Integrating computational modeling techniques with empirical kinematic gait assessment produces a more comprehensive understanding of muscle forces and joint torques required to produce human motion. However, conducting such simulations requires the creation of accurate dynamics models of specific prosthesis designs and configurations. The aim of the current work is to develop a two-dimensional computational model of the Legworks All-Terrain Knee to be used with full-body gait simulations aimed at evaluating the effects of prosthesis design on gait dynamics. Our model replicates both the swing-phase and stance-phase control features of the All-Terrain Knee, which generates a passive torque about the rotational knee axis in response to external loading. Simscape Multibody was used to model the individual mechanical components of the knee. The model parameters, such as spring stiffness and friction levels were tuned to match swing-phase knee torques generated using benchtop testing of the All-Terrain Knee throughout its range of motion. The model results show good agreement with these torque profiles. Future development will focus on integrating the knee model with an existing gait model so that it can be validated against user kinematics recorded using motion capture.</p>

2d Computational Modeling of the All-Terrain Knee for Gait Analysis

Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/IDETC-CIE/IDETC-CIE2021/volume/85369

ASME 2021 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference (IDETC/CIE2021)

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