Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada.
Comput Methods Programs Biomed. 2013 Jun;110(3):231-9. doi: 10.1016/j.cmpb.2012.11.006. Epub 2012 Dec 25.
The quasi-static Young's modulus of the eardrum's pars tensa is an important modeling parameter in computer simulations. Recent developments in indentation testing and inverse modeling allow estimation of this parameter with the eardrum in situ. These approaches are challenging because of the curved shape of the pars tensa which requires special care during experimentation to keep the indenter perpendicular to the local surface at the point of contact. Moreover, they involve complicated contact modeling. An alternative computer-based method is presented here in which pressurization is used instead of indentation. The Young's modulus of a thin-shell model of the eardrum with subject-specific geometry is numerically optimized such that simulated pressurized shapes match measured counterparts. The technique was evaluated on six healthy rat eardrums, resulting in a Young's modulus estimate of 22.8±1.5MPa. This is comparable to values estimated using indentation testing. The new pressurization-based approach is simpler to use than the indentation-based method for the two reasons noted above.
鼓膜紧张部的准静态杨氏模量是计算机模拟中的一个重要建模参数。最近的压痕测试和逆建模的发展使得可以在原位估计鼓膜的这个参数。这些方法具有挑战性，因为紧张部的形状是弯曲的，这要求在实验过程中特别注意保持压头在接触点处与局部表面垂直。此外，它们还涉及到复杂的接触建模。本文提出了一种替代的基于计算机的方法，其中使用加压而不是压痕。通过数值优化具有特定于主体的几何形状的鼓膜的薄壳模型的杨氏模量，使得模拟的加压形状与测量的对应形状匹配。该技术在六只健康大鼠鼓膜上进行了评估，得出杨氏模量估计值为 22.8±1.5MPa。这与使用压痕测试估计的值相当。基于加压的新方法比基于压痕的方法更简单，原因有二。
