Finite Elements Model of the Human Body:geometry and Non-linear Material Properties

To optimize the shape of the interface between the skin and a sitting support a Finite Elements model is needed. The geometry of the model was based on (i) in vivo measured skin shape data of the upper leg and the buttock area, and the position of a set of bony landmarks, /nr in vitro measured bone shape data of the Visible Human Dataset, (ii) auxillary surfaces to bridge the skin and the bone data. First a closed surface FE model was constructed, followed by hexmeshing to obtain the solid model. The boundary and the contact conditionswere derived from the spatial, the continuum and the force application boundaries. To quantify the material properties, a one parameter version of the Mooney model was used (neo-Hookean). The actual coefficient was estimated by reference with predicted values of the maximum pressure.