Numerical and experimental analysis of the mechanical response of human fingertip pulp to loading

The mechanical deformation of a human fingertip when pressing on a flat plate was numerically and experimentally analyzed. A three-dimensional human fingertip model was constructed from CT images of human index finger. The fingertip model was constituted of three parts: a distal phalanx bone, skin/subcutaneous tissue, and a nail. The mechanical deformation of a human fingertip was measured by recording lateral and axial view images of the fingertip using two CCD cameras. By comparison of numerical and experimental results, there were no unique values of Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio to express the experimental results. These results suggest that the epidermal, the dermal, and the fat tissue constituting the skin/subcutaneous tissue may influence to the mechanical deformation by these different contributions.