Master's student Noor Basim Muhammed - Prothesis and Orthosis Engineering Department her thesis tagged:

Numerical and Experimental Investigation of Energy Storing and Release Foot Prothesis for Walking

The discussion took place on Munday  18/9/2023 in Al-Furat. The discussion committee was chaired by Assist. Prof. Dr. Hussein Muhammed Hussein / University of Technology and the membership of all Assist. Prof. Dr. Ahmed Riadh / Al-Nahrain University and Assist. Prof. Dr. Fahad Muhanned/ Al-Nahrain University. The thesis was conducted under the supervision of Assist. Prof. Dr. Yaser Yarub Qahtan / College of Engineering/ Al-Nahrain University.

 Prostheses are devices that replace parts of the body lost due to accidents, with the foot being the most important component. A literature review of energy-storing prosthetic feet was conducted and compared using a database. 40 research papers related to energy storage feet were selected from 2001 to 2022 on the basis of the research’s name, author, year of publication, research objective, materials used in manufacturing feet, methods, and the final conclusion. This study facilitates and shortens the long search path. This thesis attempted to develop an energy storage foot made of ABS-plus material. Two methods were used: changing the type of material to better mechanical properties, and changing the foot design. The results showed that changing the design was the most important factor in the success of the foot model. The heel strike test for the latest design F showed the best results, with a total deformation of 4.7254 mm, a strain energy of 0.1863 mJ, a safety factor of 1.584, a von Misses stress of 19.57 MPa, and a safety factor of 1.584. The dynamic analysis showed that the foot's ability to bear the weight of the patient and all kinds of stress was unsatisfactory, with the safety factor ranging from 1.0368 e-7 to 8.9274 e-8. This study aimed to design and create a carbon fiber prosthetic foot. It was designed using the Solid Work program, and numerical analysis was carried out using the Ansys program. The results showed that the foot was safe in static, with an increase in the total deformation and strain energy. In dynamic, the foot was safe when subjected to repeated stress, and the safety factor was ranged from 15 to 4.95. The range of motion showed values close to normal, providing a good gait for the amputee. The practical test of the load deflection showed that the total deformation values were close to the theoretical values. In the future, the work aims to test the foot on different types of amputees, compare the results, and study the strength and age of the foot and its effect on the gait cycle. Gait analysis has been used to determine gait phase, kinematic and kinetic parameters, and quantitative assessment of musculoskeletal function. This study used three devices from BTS BIOENGINEERING to compare the effect of two prosthetic feet, one manufactured in this study, and the other previously worn by the patient. The results showed that the new artificial foot with an energy of 6.186 joules showed a great improvement in the results of the tests compared to the old artificial foot with an energy of 3.403 joules. The amputee's opinions about the evaluation of the new prosthetic foot were good when using the T-score by 61.0 with a rate of 86.4%.

The thesis was accepted as it fulfilled the requirements for obtaining a master's degree, with a Very Good grade.