EBM 506: Biomechanics II First Semester Examination

First semester biomechanics paper for the biomedical engineering degree, sat on Tuesday the fourth of February 2020, question one and any two others. Question one defines the terms used when describing the kinematic geometry of human motion - rigid body, location on a body, orientation of a body and joint configuration - lists four reasons total knee replacement implants are designed as they are, gives the factors that separate design for cruciate resection from design that preserves the posterior cruciate ligament, defines tribology, and explains how skin, the alveoli of the lungs, human joints and red blood cells are each prone to friction and wear. The optional questions discuss the local reference system fixed within a moving body and its global orientation, illustrating three of the common methods of determining it with examples of each; take the five design considerations established for a total knee replacement - the bearing surfaces, forces in the knee, geometry of the knee, constraint and laxity, and replicating the design as closely as possible to normal configurations - and discuss the importance of each, the implications of not considering it and the implications of reproducing the normal knee function; define asperities, friction, wear and lubrication as they pertain to tribology with illustrations and equations, and separate the three types of lubricating fluid by how their viscosity responds to a viscosity-velocity gradient; and discuss the three mechanisms of tribology, three additional types of lubrication theorised to happen in the human body, and how artificial joints are lubricated.