Mechanical impedance of the canine diaphragm. Part 2. Theoretical model and parameter estimation.

In the paper the equation of motion of the small amplitude transverse forced vibration of a radially prestressed and circularly clamped thin membrane has been developed. The material of the membrane is considered to be homogeneous, isotropic, incompressible and viscoelastic. From the analytical solution of this equation the incremental mechanical impedance of the membrane was derived as a function of frequency, geometrical parameters and incremental viscoelastic coefficients of the material. The parameters of the model were fitted to experimental impedance data using a global optimisation procedure to obtain the incremental viscoelastic moduli of the canine diaphragm. The estimated quasi-static behaviour of the model is shown to be consistent with the results of experimental quasi-static measurements. It is concluded that the incremental viscoelastic moduli of a soft tissue and the stress dependence of these material coefficients can be determined by fitting the parameters of the model to the impedance data of that particular tissue.