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Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference: GR/N10318/01
Title: DEVELOPMENT OF RELIABILITY THEORY FOR STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY ASSESSMENT OF MEDICAL DEVICES
Principal Investigator: Gregson, Professor P
Other Investigators:
New, Dr AMR Langley, Professor RS Barrett, Mr D
Barrett, Professor D Browne, Professor M Taylor, Professor M
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Centaur Finsbury Instruments Ltd Johnson & Johnson
South West Research Institute
Department: Faculty of Engineering & the Environment
Organisation: University of Southampton
Scheme: Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts: 01 October 2000 Ends: 30 June 2004 Value (£): 179,388
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:
Design Engineering Eng. Dynamics & Tribology
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
Healthcare No relevance to Underpinning Sectors
Related Grants:
Panel History:  
Summary on Grant Application Form
The overall aim of this work is to provide a scientific underpinning to the lifetime analysis and structural integrity assessment of biomedical load bearing structures. Present biomedical lifing procedures are extremely conservative and will become increasingly in appro9priate for the younger, more active patient. The investigation will use a proven probabilistic technique, reliability theory; in the first instance, a proof of concept study will be carried out, which will demonstrate the applicability of reliability methods in the case of fatigue failure of the femoral component of the hip replacement. The methodology employed in this phase of the study will be enhanced to incorporate finite element methods and appropriate clinical parameters into the reliability analysis. In particular, the major portion of the work will address the most predominant cause of revision surgery, loosening of the femoral hip component. The programme will therefore model clinically relevant failure modes, in an attempt to determine the design factors most likely to compromise structural integrity. Through this multidisciplinary research programme, and the close collaboration between university and industrial collaborators, the transfer to industry of new structural integrity methods will be facilitated.EngProg\
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Organisation Website: http://www.soton.ac.uk