Investigating stress-strain properties of in-vivo human skin using multiaxial loading experiments and finite element modeling.

A multiaxial testing rig has been designed to investigate mechanical properties of soft tissue membranes. This approach has the advantage over biaxial loading in that it can be used to investigate soft tissue membranes with complex structural architecture. A finite element model of tissue mechanics has been used to analyze the experimental data in order to evaluate the stress-strain relationship, and a forward solve algorithm developed to estimate material parameters values for a given constitutive law. The multiaxial testing rig and the finite element analysis have been used to evaluate the constitutive properties of in-vivo human skin.