Experimental Testing of Vibration Analysis Methods to Monitor Recovery of Stiffness of a Fixated Synthetic Pelvis: A Preliminary Study

Abstract

Monitoring the healing of long bones has been studied extensively to reduce the period of encumbrance and unnecessary pain for patients suffering from fractured bones. This is more critical for unstable fractures in the pelvis as the patients can bedridden for up to 12 weeks to allow proper healing to take place. Current methods employed to monitor long bone healing are insufficient for applications in the pelvis as the human pelvis presents a significant change in geometry which demands a different approach. This paper explores an approach where vibration analysis is used to provide in-situ monitoring of a healing fracture in a human pelvis. Experimental tests were conducted on 4th generation synthetic pelvises instrumented with an array of PZT sensors. The synthetic pelvises were cut at the sacrum to simulate a fractured pelvis followed by the application of araldite epoxy to simulate healing by allowing the epoxy to cure. Measurements were collected from the sensor array over the curing period to obtain the transfer functions (TFs) for various excitations. An impact hammer was utilised to obtain powerful broadband excitations while the PZT sensors were used to detect the response in the synthetic pelvis as a results of these excitation signals. A comparison of TF against cure time (healed amount) indicates the presence of a significant relationship with the stiffness recovery of the epoxy at the cut of the synthetic model.