Finite element modeling of a 3D coupled foot–boot model

Increasingly, musculoskeletal models of the human body are used as powerful tools to study biological structures. The lower limb, and in particular the foot, is of interest because it is the primary physical interaction between the body and the environment during locomotion. The goal of this paper is to adopt the finite element (FE) modeling and analysis approaches to create a state-of-the-art 3D coupled foot–boot model for future studies on biomechanical investigation of stress injury mechanism, foot wear design and parachute landing fall simulation. In the modeling process, the foot–ankle model with lower leg was developed based on Computed Tomography (CT) images using ScanIP, Surfacer and ANSYS. Then, the boot was represented by assembling the FE models of upper, insole, midsole and outsole built based on the FE model of the foot–ankle, and finally the coupled foot–boot model was generated by putting together the models of the lower limb and boot. In this study, the FE model of foot and ankle was validated during balance standing. There was a good agreement in the overall patterns of predicted and measured plantar pressure distribution published in literature. The coupled foot–boot model will be fully validated in the subsequent works under both static and dynamic loading conditions for further studies on injuries investigation in military and sports, foot wear design and characteristics of parachute landing impact in military.