An Experimental and Numerical Program to Study the Properties of Thin Biological Membranes and Water Filling Process

Abstract

Many organs such as the bladder consists of a water filled structure. An accurate measurement of the properties of the wall tissues and the liquid filling process is very important for the study of their mechanics and interaction with other organs. In this work, a new method has been developed to test thin membranes and inversely predict their mechanical properties based on indentation bending tests. A testing frame has been developed to test thin sheet of different length scales with finite element (FE) model mimicking each testing condition developed. The material properties of the membrane were predicted based on a parametric study approach. Tests have been performed using thin rubber sheet as a model material and the elastic property has been successfully predicted by matching the numerical and experimental data. The predicted material properties were then used in modelling water filling process of a balloon mimicking the bladder filling process