Endurance testing and finite element simulation of a modified hip stem for integration of an energy harvesting system

Instrumented implants are a promising approach to further improve the clinical outcome of total hip arthroplasties. For the integrated sensors or active functions, an electrical power supply is required. Energy harvesting concepts can provide autonomous power with unlimited lifetime and are independent from external equipment. However, those systems occupy space within the mechanically loaded total hip replacement and can decrease the life span due to fatigue failure in the altered implant. We previously presented a piezoelectric energy harvesting system for an energy-autonomous instrumented total hip stem that notably changes the original implant geometry. The aim of this study was to investigate the remaining structural fatigue failure strength of the metallic femoral implant component in a worst-case scenario. Therefore, the modified hip stem was tested under load conditions based on ISO 7206-4:2010. The required five million cycles were completed twice by all samples (n = 3). Additionally applied cycles with incrementally increased load levels up to 4.7 kN did not induce implant failure. In total, 18 million cycles were endured, outperforming the requirements of the ISO standard. Supplementary finite element analysis was conducted to determine stress distribution within the implant. A high stress concentration was found in the region of modification. The stress level showed an increase compared to the previously evaluated physiological loading situation and was close to the fatigue data from the literature. The stress concentration factor compared to the original geometry amounted to 2.56. The assessed stress level in accordance with the experimental fatigue testing can serve as a maximum reference value for further implant design modifications and optimisations.