Contribution to the determination of in vivo mechanical characteristics of human skin by indentation test

Abstract

This paper proposes a triphasic model of intact skin in vivo based on a general phenomenological thermohydromechanical and physicochemical (THMPC) approach of heterogeneous media. The skin is seen here as a deforming stratified medium composed of four layers and made out of different fluid-saturated materials which contain also an ionic component. All the layers are treated as linear, isotropic materials described by their own behaviour law. The numerical simulations of in vivo indentation test performed on human skin are given. The numerical results correlate reasonably well with the typical observations of indented human skin. The discussion shows the versatility of this approach to obtain a better understanding on the mechanical behaviour of human skin layers separately. © 2013 Marie-Angèle Abellan et al.