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Biomechanical Characterization of Human Soft Tissues Using Indentation and Tensile Testing
Published on: December 13, 2016
Non-ideal effects in indentation testing of soft tissues
John D Finan1, Patrick M Fox, Barclay Morrison
1Neurotrauma and Repair Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University, 351 Engineering Terrace, 1210 Amsterdam Avenue MC 8904, New York, NY, 10027, USA.
Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology
|August 10, 2013
Summary
Indentation analysis for soft tissues is robust to small strain but sensitive to sample thickness, especially with cylindrical indenters. Correction factors can improve experimental accuracy without complex modeling.
Area of Science:
- Biomechanics
- Materials Science
- Biomedical Engineering
Background:
- Indentation is valuable for characterizing soft biological tissues.
- Complex deformations during indentation pose analytical challenges.
- Current methods rely on assumptions of small strain and large sample thickness, limiting applications.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantitatively assess deviations from classical indentation analysis when assumptions of small strain and large thickness are violated.
- To investigate the impact of various experimental parameters on indentation results.
- To provide practical guidance for designing indentation experiments.
Main Methods:
- Parametric finite element analysis of indentation loading.
- Systematic variation of indenter geometry, surface conditions, sample compressibility, geometry, and indentation depth.
- Comparison of results against classical analytical solutions.
Main Results:
- Classical indentation solutions are robust to violations of the small strain assumption.
- Sensitivity to the large sample thickness assumption is high, particularly with cylindrical indenters.
- Deviations are quantifiable and dependent on experimental parameters.
Conclusions:
- Conventional assumptions in indentation analysis are often overly conservative.
- Correction factors can be derived to improve accuracy when assumptions are violated.
- Findings facilitate more flexible and higher-resolution indentation experiments on soft biological tissues.
