2015 Volume 23 Issue 4 Pages 61-69
A numerical model was developed to clarify the optical characteristics of the human skin surface, i.e., the reflection and transmission characteristics. First, the bidirectional reflectance of the skin surface was measured to understand the optical characteristics, and a numerical model was developed to predict the bidirectional reflectance. Then, we developed a numerical model that simulates light behavior on the skin surface at the interface between air and the skin. We proposed two different numerical models based on geometric optics and verified their accuracy by comparing the model results with measurements. The tested models are Model A, which considers only the groove structure on the skin surface, and Model B, which considers the finer structures. By comparing the bidirectional reflectance from the measurement and the numerical analysis, it was found that Model A could not be used for predicting the bidirectional reflectance of the experimental results. However, Model B, which considers the finer structure of the surface as well as the groove structure, enabled us to predict profiles of the bidirectional reflectance, even though it showed slight discrepancies with the measurement results.
