Abstract
The main cause of pressure ulcers (PUs) is high pressure on the surface of buttock-tissue and support cushion as well as the area inside the bones and muscle tissue. There are also many other factors, including shear stress, friction, temperature and moisture. So far, many studies have used numerical simulations and experiments to find the influence of the stresses and strains, the surface pressures on the formation and development of pressure ulcers. This paper presents a biomechanical modelization and simulation of the interactions between wheelchair seat cushion and human buttock-tissue (HBT) aiming to prevent ulcers. In this paper, we used three-dimensional (3D) finite element model (FEM) of a HBT in contact with a honeycomb seat cushion (HSC) in a sitting position. This cushion is made from thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) for disabled people who use wheelchairs. Mechanical simulation was performed to find the pressure distribution, the stress and the deformation. Thermal simulation permits to identify the temperature distribution on the surface of HBT and HSC that are the factors can cause PUs. Our results showed that the highest distribution pressure, the von Mises stress, respectively, found corresponds to 175.8 and 36.45 kPa. The highest temperatures obtained in the zone of interaction between the buttock-tissue and HSC correspond to 33.74 °C after 35 min seating. Our study proposes a new methodology for the improvement and validation of FEM to identify the risk of PUs. The results will permit to improve cushion by collaboration with the manufacturer (optimization of shapes and materials) to create the own cushion model for each patient increasing his daily life.
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Bui, T.H., Lestriez, P., Pradon, D., Debray, K., Taiar, R. (2018). The Prevention of Pressure Ulcers: Biomechanical Modelization and Simulation of Human Seat Cushion Contributions. In: Nguyen-Xuan, H., Phung-Van, P., Rabczuk, T. (eds) Proceedings of the International Conference on Advances in Computational Mechanics 2017. ACOME 2017. Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7149-2_80
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