Key note Speech: Recent Insights and Perspectives in In-Silico Modeling of Synovial Lubricated Total Hip Replcaements

The aim of this keynote was to describe the latest research results achieved at the Department of Industrial Engineering of the University of Salerno by the research group headed by the Author, in the framework of the computational (bio) tribological and biomechanical modelling of lubricated total hip replacements (THR), accounting for the possibility to consider the topography of the contact surfaces during the unsteady conditions. Main aim of the research was, in fact, to accurately predict the in-silico wear of artificial implants, modelling the complex tribological phenomena acting in the joints due to the synovial lubrication, considering unsteady loading of the joint and the real contact surfaces morphology observed during detailed optical analysis executed on retrieved systems. In this speech were underlined recent computational approaches obtained by merging multibody models, solving the inverse dynamics of musculoskeletal systems, and synovial mixed elasto-hydrodynamic lubrication models, also in presence of rough surfaces. The effectiveness of the proposed analysis consists in the possibility of examining many physical activities, characterized by cyclic kinematic and loading joint conditions like running, swimming and sport in general, in order to predict the implant duration overcoming excessive time and money consumption due to the experimental set-up and investigation, moreover taking into account the complexity of a mixed lubrication model adaptable to several synovial fluid lubrication properties and that considers the surfaces’ contact.