A solution based on a Hertzian approximation to the contact pressure distribution is obtained for the transient thermoelastic contact of a sphere sliding on a rigid non-conducting plane. With this simplification an integral equation formulation is obtained. In a nondimensional form the only independent parameter is the starting condition and numerical results are presented for various values. A...

The authors describe a novel system for sensing and displaying the distribution of contact pressure caused by a patient's lying on a hospital bed. The system includes a flexible, pressure-sensitive mat, electronics to activate the mat, a small computer to process data, and a color video display. The present prototypes can sense pressure at 1,536 discrete locations in a rectangular grid of 24 x ...

In this paper we introduce a elastic and hyperelastic model to describe the pressure dependent material stress in joint cartilage. We used the pressure dependent E-modulus E = f(s) to calculate the material stress. E = f(s) is a degree 4 polynomial [1]. The indentor was pressed 0.4 mm into the tissue. The results show that the maximal stress at the contact zone between indentor and cartilage ac...

BACKGROUND Few studies have offered comparative information on the mechanical characteristics of different wheelchair seat cushions. The objective of the present study was to compare the benefits of the wheelchair seat cushions most frequently used in a population of patients with spinal cord injury in terms of pressure distribution and contact surface at the user-cushion interface. METHODS E...

The effect of increasing structural disorder on the distribution of contact forces P(f) inside three dimensional particle assemblies is systematically studied using computer simulations of model granular packings. Starting from a face-centered-cubic array, where all contact forces are identical, an increasing number of defects is introduced into the assembly, after which the system is then allo...

OBJECTIVE To assess the plantar pressure distribution during the robotic-assisted walking, guided through normal symmetrical hip and knee physiological kinematic trajectories, with unassisted walking in post-stroke hemiplegic patients. METHODS Fifteen hemiplegic stroke patients, who were able to walk a minimum of ten meters independently but with asymmetric gait patterns, were enrolled in thi...

an analytical equation of state is applied to calculate the thermodynamic properties for argon. theequation of state is that of song and mason. it is based on a statistical-mechanical perturbation theory ofhard convex bodies and can be written as fifth-order polynomial in the density. there exist three temperaturedependentparameters: the second virial coefficient, an effective molecular volume,...