Response surface optimization for joint contact model evaluation

Abstract

When optimization is used to evaluate a joint contact model's ability to reproduce experimental measurements, the high computational cost of repeated contact analysis can be a limiting factor. This paper presents a computationally-efficient response surface optimization methodology to address this limitation. Quadratic response surfaces were fit to contact quantities (contact force, maximum pressure, average pressure, and contact area) predicted by a discrete element contact model of the tibiofemoral joint for various combinations of material modulus and relative bone pose (i.e., position and orientation). The response surfaces were then used as surrogates for costly contact analyses in opti..