Dynamic viscoelastic properties of human skin using impact solicitation and ultrasonic echography monitoring

Abstract

"In this study we characterize the mechanical behavior of human skin on its surface and volume, following an impact induced wave propagation. Spatial and temporal speed of the induced wave propagation are our physical criteria correlated to the skin rheological character. This study comports two main aspects of measurement on the forearm area: 1)The first aspect is the exploitation of the surface wave propagation induced by air blast impact to evaluate its viscoelastic mechanical behavior of the skin. 2)The second aspect is the use of the 20 MHz ultrasonic echography as monitoring tool, to follow the wave propagation in the skin volume and evaluate of the mechanical properties gradient. In order to validate the developed approaches, measurements have been realized on healthy volunteers representing age and gender effect. The obtained results confirm the efficiency of the developed instrumentation to evaluate the skin viscoelastic properties on surface and volume."