Indentor tests are one of the most common ways for in vivo estimation of human residual limb soft tissue bulk elastic and viscoelastic material properties. Due to large strains and displacements encountered during indentation, elementary strength of materials approaches yield crude approximations of the material properties. A common procedure, therefore, is to construct a finite element model of the tissue in the vicinity of the test site. The material properties of soft tissue are identified by matching the force-displacement characteristics of the finite element model to that of indentor experiments. The effect of residual limb surface curvature on force-displacement characteristics of finite element models are investigated. Results indicate that limb surface curvature effects are negligible compared to other modeling assumptions
