A comparison of the flow behaviour in knee
articulations as a function of the friction factor
J.M. Rodriguez Lelis, Alvarez Vera Melvin, Justo Juvenal
Solano Pérez, Gilberto Piña Piña
Departamento de Ingeniería Mecánica
Centro Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo Tecnológico.
Cuernavaca, Morelos. México.
jmlelis@cenidet.edu.mx
Ascencio Gutierrez Jorge A, Zavala Padilla Guadalupe
Instituto de Ciencias Fisicas, UNAM.
Cuernavaca, Morelos. México
Abstract—In this work the flow behavior in the channel formed
in the knee articulation is analyzed using Reynolds´ equation.
The comparison between natural and prosthetic knee is achieved
through the evaluation of the corresponding friction coefficients
which are added to the Reynold´s equation. The friction
coefficients are determined by relating them to the surface
roughness, shear stresses, contact angles, work adhesion, and
surface tension as described by Rabinowicz. The surface tension
was evaluated theoretically by thermodynamic approach using
the extended theory of xDVLO. SEM microscopy in human
meniscus showed that its surface is formed by crests and valleys
knitted on specific directions. For the synovial liquid –meniscus
friction couple, as found out on the same SEM analysis, it was
considered that the meniscus is a low permeability material and
its influence neglected. It was found that slip could increase as the
friction coefficient decreases.
Keywords-component; free energy, prosthesis, friction
coefficient
I. INTRODUCTION
As the average life expectancy around the world increases,
there is a concomitant increase in the need for replacement
body parts. A number of material combinations, as well as
geometrical configurations have been tried trough the years,
with the prime objective of reducing friction and wear and
trying to get close to the physical properties of natural healthy
articulations.
As described in [1], there are several reasons why
pathology frequently affects joints or the materials responsible
for maintaining the integrity of the joint. Articular cartilage is
subject to wear because of the cyclic loading that must be
tolerated to accomplish the normal activities of daily living.
Affections of the synovium will also profoundly affect the
frictional factors, while trauma effectively stresses colagenous
tissues in and around the synovial joint.
978-1-4244-2902-8/09/$25.00 ©2009 IEEE
Tejero Andrade José Manuel
Departamento de Ing. Mecánica
Instituto Tecnológico de Veracruz.
Veracruz,Veracruz. México
Marciano Vargas Treviño
Universidad Autónoma Benito Juarez de Oaxaca, Escuela de
Ciencia, Ciudad Universitaria, Avenida Universidad sin
número, Ex Hacienda de “Cinco Señores”, Oaxaca de
Juárez, Oaxaca,México
.
A diarthrodial joint is an encapsulated system which
encloses its articulating surfaces and lubricant. The end of each
bone is covered with a protective layer of articular cartilage,
which serves to reduce contact stresses in the joint, protect
bone surfaces from impact stresses, and minimize friction and
wear in the joint [2]. The natural synovial joint is an ideal joint
which has a very low friction coefficient, high load carrying
capacity, shock absorption capability, mobility with stability,
and long endurance. Its low coefficient of friction, about 0.02,
suggests that synovial joints in the human are lubricated by
fluid film lubrication. The kind of lubrication occurring at any
one time in a synovial joint varies according to the loading and
walking cycle conditions encountered.
Although several diarthrodial systems in vitro and in situ
have been studied extensively in decades, although a number of
studies have been presented [3,4,5,6] amongst many others,
still a broad field of discussion may be undertaken regarding
the mechanisms by which the coefficient of friction varies
within the joint.
In this works considering the small gaps presented in
diarthrodial joints, indicating the major influence on the
friction factor of the free energies, the Reynolds equation is
solved numerically including a equation developed based on
Ravinowicz work [7].
II. FRICTION COEFFICIENT SOLID-LIQUID
Following Rabinowicz [7], in this work, it is considered a
spherical indenter that is submerged into liquid, a distance x, as
shown in figure 1. If the indenter penetrates a distance x, work
has to be carried out to overcome the fluid pressure, and in
accordance with Fan [8], a reduction of the surface free energy
has to occur. The last will be the sum of all the surface energies
interacting between the surfaces. Thus, departing from:
G = U −W (1)
and, considering the contributions to the surface energies, those
of the surface tension and adhesion energies, then:
G = 2πRx(σ + γ SL ) − 2πRx2 P (2)
where G is the overall free energy change, P is the pressure
exerted by the fluid, σ is the surface tension and is evaluated
using a xDVLO model. The variable γ is the adhesion energy
between two materials and can be evaluated by Young´s
equation [9, 10].
III. EXPERIMENTAL AND NUMERICAL RESULTS
A. SEM Analysis
In figure 2 it is shown the micrograph of lateral and top
surfaces view of a meniscus, obtained by SEM microscopy.
The meniscus sample was surgically obtained from a 26 years
old male sportsman. The sample was dissected into 2 mm
sections, treated with glucose and storage at -18 °C.
From the micrograph it can be seen that even knitting of
tissue is laid trough out the meniscus. The weave resembles a
number of springs evenly ordered to sustain a large load normal
to the surface. On the surface valleys and mountains follow an
orderly pattern with a specific direction.

Fig. 1. Hard spherical indenter submerged into liquid.

Taking the first derivative, equating to zero, and after some (a)
rearrangements, the friction factor may be expressed by:

τ ⋅ cot 2 θ
f = (3)
4 ⎛σ + γ ⎞
⎜ ⎟
3⎝ R ⎠

From equation (3), may be seen that the adhesion energy

plays an important roll in the behavior of the friction
coefficient. At large values of γ, the friction factor decreases
and as γ decreases the friction factor increases.
The slip velocity is obtained by equating the parabolic
velocity profile of a Poiseuille flow, with the shear stress of a
fluid under slip. The final expression is:

(b)
τh
U= Fig. 2 Micrograph of a meniscus cartilage: (a) Lateral
fμ (4) surface and (b) top surface.

where U is the slip velocity, h the distance of film closer to the From the micrographs shown in figure 2, it may be
wall, μ viscosity of fluid. It is clear from equation (4) that the considered that the maximum influence on the flow behavior of
smaller the friction coefficient the larger the slip velocity. the synovial fluid, in the channel formed in the knee joint, is
merely caused by the surface irregularities. Also, that the
porosity and permeability are very small to be considered in the
numerical simulation.
B. Numerical Results
In this work the load is obtained from the walking cycle
reported by Bergmann [11] and a viscosity of 0.02 Pa-s is
employed. The friction factor was varied to observe its effect
on pressure and the results are shown in figure 3.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
The friction factor influences significantly the flow behavior
of the synovial liquid within a diarthrodial joint. It was show
that the lower the friction coefficient the lower is the internal
pressure exerted between the confining walls of the joint. Also
that the maximum velocity achieved is higher for the slip
condition compared to the no slip condition. It can also be
envisage, that as the synovial fluids losses its properties with
aging, the possibility of contact increases.

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Fig. 3 Effect of friction factor on pressure. 103–108.
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have to be completed with those shown in figure 4. [7] Rabinowicz E, The Friction and Wear of Materials; Wiley, New York,
1965 .
-4
x 10 [8] Fan, H., “Liquid Droplet Spreading with Line Tension Effect”, J. Phys:
1 Condens Matter, 18, 2006, pp. 4481-4488
0.9 [9] I., Satoru, S.J., Myung, “Stability Model for a Lubricant Film with
Slider”, IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, 42, 10, 2006, pp. 2537-2539
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0.7
[11] Bergmann G., Rohlman A., “The load upon the artificial hip joint during
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Heidelberg, 1990.
h (m)

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03 0.035
velocidad (m/s)

Fig. 4 Velocity profile for no slip (green) and slip (Blue)

conditions, h= 100 µm.

In figure 4 it is shown a plot of velocity versus gap h, for slip

and not slip conditions. In green it is shown the no slip
condition and in blue the slip condition. It naturally verifies the
behavior predicted by eq. 4.