The New Jersey Institute of Technology's
Electronic Theses & Dissertations Project

Title:	Finite element analysis of skin injuries by water jet cutting
Author:	Arif, Syed Muhammad
View Online:	njit-etd1997-009 (ix, 150 pages ~ 5.6 MB pdf)
Department:	Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering
Degree:	Master of Science
Program:	Manufacturing Systems Engineering
Document Type:	Thesis
Advisory Committee:	Abdou, George Hanna (Committee chair) Chu, Taiming (Committee member) Wolf, Carl (Committee member)
Date:	1997-05
Keywords:	Water Jet Cutting--Safety Measures Skin--Wounds and Injuries Production Engineering
Availability:	Unrestricted
Abstract:	High pressure water jets are used in industry for cleaning and cutting purposes. These devices can generate pressure up to 400 MPa. As high pressure water jets become more widespread in industry, injuries will be seen with great frequency. Penetrating injuries by these devices can produce minimal external evidence of extensive soft tissue injury. To know the extent of injury, it is important to study the relationship between operating parameters of water jet and the skin layers. A computational analysis is carried out using finite element method to find the effects of water jet pressure on the skin layer. Finite element skin model is made and the analysis is carried out at different pressure. Linear and non linear static analyses are done here to study the behavior of skin layers under pressure. The results obtained from both analyses shows linear effect that is elastic behavior. The skin materials rupture before going into the plastic region. The results show that the layer of skin will start to shear at about 45 MPa of water jet pressure. The epidermis bears most of the stresses and is deformed, other layers are also deformed but do not reveal high stress concentration. High stress concentration are seen in the dermis where there are not enough collagen fibers.