Narrow Results

Objectives: The study was to establish a precise three-dimensional (3D) finite element model (FEM) of the distal radioulnar joint (DRUJ) and then to validate its accuracy for the application to the research on clinical biomechanics. Materials and methods: The right forearm DRUJ of a volunteer (male, 28 years old, 62 kilograms) was scanned by computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The resulting sectional images were input into MIMICS10.1 and ANSYS10.0 to generate 3D FEM of the DRUJ. With this FEM, the bending load, axial compression load and the torsion load conditions were simulated, and the vonmises stress distribution of the DRUJ was detected. The simulation results were compared with the biomechanics experiment results which were reported by the literatures. Results: The constructed FEM consisted of 333,805 elements and 508,384 nodes. Together, the simulation results with this FEM were in consistent with those of the reported experiments in bending load, axial compression load and torsion load conditions. Discussion: The 3D FEM of the DRUJ can reflect the real geometric structure of the DRUJ objectively and the simulation with this FEM can predict the results of the biomechanics experiments successfully.