Analyze of liner influence in transtibial prosthetic taking into account tribological aspects

An objective method is proposed to evaluate the performance of a prosthetic patient in order to choose an optimized pair of prosthetic material for liner and cup. The surface pressure map over the residual limb is monitored in order to identify the zones where the mechanical work over the skin is increased and a decision system identifies the most suitable liner-cup pair according to stump geometry, patient's characteristics and friction coefficient between skin and liner. The pressure and forces are considered to be the best probable ones during a gait cycle (an average value during a predefined number of trials). Experimental results and simulation are presented.