RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RIGIDITY OF EXTERNAL FIXATOR AND NUMBER OF PINS: COMPUTER ANALYSIS USING FINITE ELEMENTS.

Objective: To analyze the rigidity of a platform-type external fixator assembly, according to different numbers of pins on each clamp.

Methods: Computer simulation on a large-sized Cromus dynamic external fixator (Baumer SA) was performed using a finite element method, in accordance with the standard ASTM F1541. The models were generated with approximately 450,000 quadratic tetrahedral elements.