Poroelastic properties from indentation tests

A new paper on the indentation of poroelastic media has been published by our group.  In this work, we demonstrate the use of a "master curve" database for fast identification of poroelastic properties (elastic modulus, drained Poisson's ratio and hydraulic permeability) from an indentation creep (displacement-time) curve.  The "master curve" approach eliminates the need for reverse finite element (FE) analysis of each individual indentation test, allowing for "permeability mapping" in addition to modulus mapping in inhomogeneous materials.  Further, the fact that the analysis is based on a "master curve" approach means that a single database of FE curves suffices for materials with vastly different mechanical properties, such as gelatin (E ~ kPa) and bone (E ~ GPa).    While our long-term plan is to develop an open-source software platform for sharing this analysis with the larger mechanics community, in the short-term we welcome collaborators to approach us with experimental data that needs characterization in the form of parameter identification.  Thanks to the reasonable attitude of the CMES journal, in which it was published, the reprint copy of the paper is available for download on our group's website .  The authors thank Prof. Selvadurai of MacGill University , a pioneer in the field of poroelasticity, for the opportunity to submit the work as part of a CMES special issue on contact mechanics .