[CCoE Notice] Thesis Defense

[Geanangel, Jane E]

UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON
Cullen College of Engineering                                                                                                      4800 Calhoun Rd.
Department of Mechanical Engineering                                                                        Houston, TX 77024-4005
Thesis Defense
Hip arthroplasty, one of the most commonly performed surgeries in the world, faces several serious problems during its lifetime, especially lubrication degradation and/or impingement. Left untreated, this can lead to more serious problems such as chronic pain, necrosis, and ultimately, the failure of the prosthesis. Therefore, to help protect patients against such negative outcomes, a detection system is developed to help patients and physicians instantly diagnose the current structural health of hip implants and lubrication conditions. The detection system uses strategically placed Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) sensors on both parts of the implant for passive and active sensing of the prosthesis. The active sensing enables the system to detect the energy loss of the transmitted signal, which helps measure the thickness of the lubricant within the implant surfaces under both static and dynamic conditions. The method is validated by comparing to the lambda ratio and the Stribeck curve.  The passive sensing detects characteristic vibration and sound signature for a series of important phenomena. An ambulatory simulator is designed and built to be able to apply cyclic loading that simulates lubrication degradation and impingement.  The results indicate that the sensing system is able to approximately detect the thickness of the lubricant and determine the lubrication regimes.
Presenter:                        Yue Yu
Committee Chair:          Dr. Gangbing Song
Committee Members:  Dr. Philip Noble.
                                          Dr. Li Sun
                                          Dr. Haichang Gu
Venue:                             MECE Small Conference Room
Data:                                July 29, 2011
Time:                               2:00 P.M.


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