Experimental Investigation of Vibrational Characteristics of Prosthetic Feet
摘要
One of the most vital parts of the lower limb prosthesis is the prosthetic foot. The amputees may experience pain from the prosthetic foot’s vibrations, which could also harm the residual limb. Taking vibration into account while designing a prosthetic foot can help amputees feel more comfortable. Nonetheless, there are a lot of prosthetic feet in the market, but their vibrational responses have not been thoroughly studied. The purpose of this research is to determine and investigate the vibration properties of prosthetic feet, such as their natural frequency and damping ratio. An experimental modal analysis is conducted on two energy Storing and Return (ESR) prosthetic feet and two conventional prosthetic feet for this study. On prosthetic feet, experiments are conducted using various masses. With varying masses, the Frequency Response Functions (FRFs) are plotted for every foot. Following that, the peak picking approach is used to derive the modal parameters from these FRFs. A comparison is made between the natural frequencies of the prosthetic feet and the walking frequencies of humans. The average human walking frequency is very far from the natural frequencies of Jaipur and ranger foot. The natural frequency of a carbon fiber foot, however, is shown to be quite close to the frequency of human walking. Compared to other prosthetic feet, the ranger foot’s damping ratio is the highest. Therefore, compared to other prosthetic feet, the ranger foot has higher shock absorption capability.