## 2 Design and Methods  
### Finite Element Analysis Set Up  
In this study, a 3D CAD model of the hip implant was created in SolidWorks (version 2024 SP1.0, SOLIDWORKS(r) Education Edition, accessed on 6 May 2024) and imported into Ansys (version 2024 R1 (24.1), Ansys Student, accessed on 7 February 2024) for FEA. Material properties were assigned based on real-world parameters, utilizing the Ansys material library where available. The materials used included titanium for the acetabular cup and screws, polyethylene for the liner, and zirconium for the femoral head. Since zirconium was not available in the default Ansys material library, its properties--including Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio, and density--were extracted from published literature and manually input into the system to ensure accurate representation. A mesh was applied to the FEA hip implant model, as shown in Figure 3. The mesh is typically composed of various sizes of triangular elements, upon which simple stress and strain calculations are performed based on the amount of force being applied to each area. By dividing the implant into smaller elements, this enables more precise calculations of mechanical behavior under applied forces. A mesh convergence study was performed to ensure solution accuracy and numerical stability. The study involved systematically refining the mesh while tracking key biomechanical parameters, such as stress distribution, strain, and displacement, until further refinement yielded negligible changes in these outputs. To assess mesh quality, several criteria were considered (Figure 4):  
1. Element quality: the aspect ratio and skewness of elements were analyzed to maintain numerical stability;* Jacobian ratio: this was used to evaluate the geometric distortion of elements;
* Aspect ratio: the mesh was optimized to balance computational efficiency and accuracy, ensuring a high-quality representation of the implant geometry. The size and shape of the mesh were determined based on previous THA studies and validated through sensitivity analysis. A predominantly triangular mesh was selected, with an average element size ranging from 1 mm to 5 mm, ensuring accurate stress distribution modeling while maintaining computational efficiency. The sensitivity analysis confirmed that further mesh refinement resulted in negligible changes in biomechanical outputs, verifying the robustness of the chosen meshing strategy. The selection of mesh parameters also considered previous studies on THA implants to maintain consistency and comparability with validated methodologies. The final mesh was determined based on an optimal trade-off between computational efficiency and result accuracy. This approach was consistent with prior FEA-based THA studies and verified by comparing results with those reported in the literature. Figure 4: Mesh quality assessment for simulation fit. (**A**,**B**) Element quality, (**C**) Jacobian ratios, and (**D**) aspect ratios were produced to ensure that simulation accurately represents fit of the model. Figure 3: Mesh applied to hip implant model for FEA. Meshed representation of FEA hip implant model, composed of triangular elements, allows for precise stress and strain calculations by distributing applied forces across smaller elements, improving accuracy of mechanical behavior simulations. Boundary conditions were applied according to the ASTM F2996-10 Standard Practice and established biomechanical loading scenarios [26; 27]. For static structural analysis, based on conditions described in [PERSON] et al. 2019, a load of 2300.5 N was applied to the superior surface of the acetabular cup to maximize joint loading [28]. The femoral stem was completely constrained at the distal end to prevent any translation and rotation, ensuring a clinically relevant fixed support (Figure 5). The simulation was then executed, and the equivalent stress, strain, and total deformation were calculated.