Forces and deformations of the abdominal wall—A mechanical and geometrical approach to the linea alba

Force-elongation responses of the human abdominal wall in the linea alba region were determined by tensile tests in which the linea alba was seen to exhibit a nonlinear elastic, anisotropic behavior as is frequently observed in soft biological tissues. In addition, the geometry of the abdominal wall was determined, based on MRI data. The geometry can be specified by principal radii of curvature in longitudinal of approximately 470 mm and in the transverse direction of about 200 mm. The determined radii agree with values found in other studies. Mechanical stresses, deformations and abdominal pressures for load cases above 6% elongation can be related using Laplace's formula and our constitut…