INVITRO COMPRESSION OF A SOFT-TISSUE LAYER ON A RIGID FOUNDATION

In the present paper a comparison is made between the results of in vitro experiments and finite element calculations on a layer of skin and fat on a rigid foundation. This layer is loaded by various indentors to obtain different stress distributions in the tissue. The purpose of these tests is to verify the ability of the numerical model to give a realistic description of the mechanical behaviour of skin and fat, and to obtain evidence with regard to the applicability of the mixture approach for these tissues. The results have been compared to finite element calculations with mixture elements. A qualitative agreement between calculations and measurements is found. The results support the hypothesis that skin and fat behave like solid/fluid mixtures.