Nonlinear Finite Element Analysis of Static and Dynamic Tissue Indentation

Detailed knowledge of tissue mechanical properties is widely required by medical applications, such as disease diagnostics, surgery operation, simulation, planning, and training. A new two degrees of freedom portable device, called Tissue Resonator Indenter Device (TRID), has been developed for measurement of regional viscoelastic properties of soft tissues at the Bio-instrument and Biomechanics Lab of the University of Toronto. As a device for clinical application, the accuracy and reliability of TRID is crucial. This thesis thus investigates the tissue samples’ mechanical properties through finite element analysis method after reviewing the experimental results of the same tissue samples using TRID. The accuracy of TRID is verified through comparing its experimental results with finite element simulation results of tissue mechanical properties. This thesis also investigates the reliability of TRID through experimental study of its indenter misalignment effect on the measurement results of tissue static stiffness, dynamic stiffness, and damping respectively.MAS