title: Mechanical behavior of fetal dura mater under large axisymmetric inflation.
abstract: The nonlinear mechanical behavior of fetal dura mater was tested experimentally and compared to two published nonlinear material strain energy functions, the Mooney-Rivlin and the Skalak, Tozeren, Zarda, and Chien (STZC). The STZC constitutive relations best fit the behavior of the dura mater and were used to describe quantitatively its stiffness. Runge-Kutta numerical procedures were used to fit the theoretical data to the experimental results. The material's stiffness was positively correlated with fetal weight (r = 0.67, p less than 0.05). These results are discussed and directions for future research indicated.
mesh_terms: D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001698:Biomedical Engineering / Q000295:instrumentation; D004388:Dura Mater / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005333:Fetus / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male