Determining hyperelastic parameters of human skin using 2D finite element modelling and simulation

The behaviour of skin is still not well understood and characterising skin properties is always challenging due to its complex biological structure. Nevertheless, this paper highlights the success of determining skin material parameters using Ogden´s model and finite element (FE) simulation. The approach involved integrating experiment, FE modelling and inverse-FE analysis. Data from in vivo experiments were used to develop 2D hyperelastic finite element models based on Ogden´s constitutive equation and systematic case studies were constructed. By iteratively varying several material parameters and values, FE simulations were performed to simulate the skin deformation according to the actual experimental set up. The results were compared to the experiments´ and the best match curve constitutes the material parameters. The current results show that the Ogden´s coefficient and exponent for the subject was estimated to be μ = 10 Pa and α = 40 respectively. Further analyses using other models such as Mooney-Rivlin and Neo-Hookean could be carried out for comparison. Nevertheless, this study has contributed to the knowledge about skin behaviour.