Abstract
Biomechanical and orthopaedic studies frequently encounter complex datasets that encompass both circular and linear variables. In most cases (i) the circular and linear variables are considered in isolation with dependency between variables neglected and (ii) the cyclicity of the circular variables is disregarded resulting in erroneous decision making. Given the inherent characteristics of circular variables, it is imperative to adopt methods that integrate directional statistics to achieve precise modelling. This paper is motivated by the modelling of biomechanical data, that is, the fracture displacements, that is used as a measure in external fixator comparisons. We focus on a dataset, based on an Ilizarov ring fixator, comprising of six variables. A modelling framework applicable to the six-dimensional joint distribution of circular-linear data based on vine copulas is proposed. The pair-copula decomposition concept of vine copulas represents the dependence structure as a combination of circular-linear, circular-circular and linear-linear pairs modelled by their respective copulas. This framework allows us to assess the dependencies in the joint distribution as well as account for the cyclicity of the circular variables. Thus, a new approach for accurate modelling of mechanical behaviour for Ilizarov ring fixators and other data of this nature is imparted.