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The Design and Construction of a Bulge Testing Device Platform for Human Skin Tissue Applications

Limited standard mechanical testing practises and stress-strain data are available for anisotropic human skin tissue in biaxial loading configurations to suitably represent skin in vivo. Inconsistencies in mechanical and physical properties in the literature due to numerous physiological factors hav...

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Main Author: Fischer, Dustin
Other Authors: Govender, Reuben
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Blast Impact and Survivability Research Unit 2021
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access_status_str Open Access
author Fischer, Dustin
author2 Govender, Reuben
author_browse Fischer, Dustin
Govender, Reuben
author_facet Govender, Reuben
Fischer, Dustin
author_sort Fischer, Dustin
collection Thesis
description Limited standard mechanical testing practises and stress-strain data are available for anisotropic human skin tissue in biaxial loading configurations to suitably represent skin in vivo. Inconsistencies in mechanical and physical properties in the literature due to numerous physiological factors have restricted development of biaxial testing equipment in laboratories to ad hoc research solutions having limited modifiability and parametric control. This project aims to develop a biaxial tensile testing device and testing platform which can be used in a research laboratory setting to provide a springboard to expediate mechanical skin tissue testing. The device can be easily reconfigured to accommodate a range of bulge pressures, while being driven via a 10bar compressed air supply. Based on simplified modelling of skin as an elastomer, mechanical and pneumatic resistivecapacitive pressure vessel models are developed. These are used respectively to initially specify a modifiable piston-cylinder bulge testing apparatus, and to design a customisable discrete proportional-integral closed-loop feedback pressurisation rate control system and software control environment. Pressure-time histories were successfully collected and stored on a dedicated computer for silicone sheet samples of 50mm diameter, as a surrogate for skin, that were tested using the platform to maximum pressures of about 200 kPa, at rates set between 2 20 kPa/s. The efficacy of the rate control system was affected by resolution of discrete pressurisation components that were used. The described platform is currently suitable for controlled and measured bulge pressurisation of elastomers. It is recommended to extend facility of the current platform by integrating 3D imaging and measurement technologies, to evaluate deformation of bulged anisotropic skin tissue and map inhomogeneous stress-strain fields for complex tensile stress-strain evaluations.
format Thesis
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:34:17.944Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2021
publishDateRange 2021
publishDateSort 2021
publisher Blast Impact and Survivability Research Unit
publisherStr Blast Impact and Survivability Research Unit
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/32670 The Design and Construction of a Bulge Testing Device Platform for Human Skin Tissue Applications Fischer, Dustin Govender, Reuben Engineering Limited standard mechanical testing practises and stress-strain data are available for anisotropic human skin tissue in biaxial loading configurations to suitably represent skin in vivo. Inconsistencies in mechanical and physical properties in the literature due to numerous physiological factors have restricted development of biaxial testing equipment in laboratories to ad hoc research solutions having limited modifiability and parametric control. This project aims to develop a biaxial tensile testing device and testing platform which can be used in a research laboratory setting to provide a springboard to expediate mechanical skin tissue testing. The device can be easily reconfigured to accommodate a range of bulge pressures, while being driven via a 10bar compressed air supply. Based on simplified modelling of skin as an elastomer, mechanical and pneumatic resistivecapacitive pressure vessel models are developed. These are used respectively to initially specify a modifiable piston-cylinder bulge testing apparatus, and to design a customisable discrete proportional-integral closed-loop feedback pressurisation rate control system and software control environment. Pressure-time histories were successfully collected and stored on a dedicated computer for silicone sheet samples of 50mm diameter, as a surrogate for skin, that were tested using the platform to maximum pressures of about 200 kPa, at rates set between 2 20 kPa/s. The efficacy of the rate control system was affected by resolution of discrete pressurisation components that were used. The described platform is currently suitable for controlled and measured bulge pressurisation of elastomers. It is recommended to extend facility of the current platform by integrating 3D imaging and measurement technologies, to evaluate deformation of bulged anisotropic skin tissue and map inhomogeneous stress-strain fields for complex tensile stress-strain evaluations. 2021-01-25T12:22:12Z 2021-01-25T12:22:12Z 2020 2021-01-25T08:57:11Z Master Thesis Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/32670 eng application/pdf Blast Impact and Survivability Research Unit Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
spellingShingle Engineering
Fischer, Dustin
The Design and Construction of a Bulge Testing Device Platform for Human Skin Tissue Applications
thesis_degree_str Master's
title The Design and Construction of a Bulge Testing Device Platform for Human Skin Tissue Applications
title_full The Design and Construction of a Bulge Testing Device Platform for Human Skin Tissue Applications
title_fullStr The Design and Construction of a Bulge Testing Device Platform for Human Skin Tissue Applications
title_full_unstemmed The Design and Construction of a Bulge Testing Device Platform for Human Skin Tissue Applications
title_short The Design and Construction of a Bulge Testing Device Platform for Human Skin Tissue Applications
title_sort design and construction of a bulge testing device platform for human skin tissue applications
topic Engineering
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/32670
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