title: Surface deformation tracking and modeling of soft materials.
abstract: Characterizing the mechanical properties of skin may lead to improvements in surgical scarring, burns treatments, artificial skin science, and disease detection. We present a method of validating a phase-based crosscorrelation method of material point tracking, used to measure surface deformations in soft tissues, using a silicone gel phantom. Tracking of a high spatial-resolution speckle pattern was validated using independent fluorescent microsphere markers. A finite element mesh was deformed according to the tracked speckle pattern, and used to predict the location of the markers. Predictions of microsphere location were compared to stereo-reconstructions. Under a 2900 μm indentation, markers under rms displacements of 125 μm produced a discrepancy between prediction and reconstruction of 23 μm. The same deformation conditions were used to illustrate the use of surface tracking for identifying mechanical properties. A force-driven finite element mesh, using a Neo-Hookean constitutive model, reproduced the surface deformation with an rms error of 172 μm.
authors.forename: Matthew D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Parker
authors.forename: Thiranja P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Babarenda Gamage
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: HajiRassouliha
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Taberner
authors.forename: Martyn P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Nash
authors.forename: Poul M F
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Nielsen
mesh_terms: D020342:Finite Element Analysis; D008954:Models, Biological; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D013499:Surface Properties