Host laboratory: SAINBIOSE, INSERM UMR1058
Partners: INRIA Grenoble, Centre, Technique du Cuir, Sporaltec
Themes: Engineering, Health and Sports
Scientific domain: Engineering sciences (DS 8)
Contact person:
Pr. Jérôme Molimard or Pr. Woo Suck Han
(0033) 4 77 42 66 48 / (0033) 4 77 42 01 89
Center for Biomedical and Healthcare Engineering (CIS)
158 Cours Fauriel, CS 62362, 42023 Saint-Etienne Cedex 2
jerome.molimard@mines-stetienne.fr / woo-suck.han@mines-stetienne.fr
PhD subject
This PhD project is part of the National Research Agency project “CAMOPI” grouping 2 public
research laboratories (lNRIA Grenoble, Mines Saint-Etienne) and two industrial clusters (Sporaltec and CTC). The main objective of the CaMoPi project is to capture and model dynamic aspects of the human foot with and without shoes.
Given the complexity of the internal foot structure, little is known about the exact motion of its skeleton and the relationship with the shoe. Hence the current state-of-the art in shoe manufacturing process still relies largely on ad-hoc know-how. This project aims at better understanding the inner mechanisms of the shod foot in motion in order to rationalize and therefore speed up and improve shoe design in terms of comfort, performance, and cost. The three main objectives within CaMoPi are the following:
1. Combined surface and volumetric motion capture using a hybrid video / X-ray platform to produce new data type. Novel methods will be devised for fusing both imaging modalities within a single coherent 4D model encompassing surface and in-depth volumetric data.
2. Accurate modeling of the foot in motion. A physical in-depth comprehension of the foot motion using multi-body modeling coupled with a finite element method (FEM) will give key information on
the foot state. A simplified surrogate model will also be developed.
3. Industrial exploitation in shoe design along with shoe manufacturers. Key features extracted from the surrogate model will be integrated in the shoe design process. Prototype models will be tested again within the capture system to quantify the improvement.
The PhD student will be part of team in charge of the 2nd point. The foot modeling task aims at describing the foot pressure and shear with and without the shoe. In this project, we propose to develop a patient-specific foot model, using biomechanical and FE models. Geometry adaptation will be based on mesh morphing techniques. The model will include skin shear problems to address blister prevention. The mechanical model solving is two-fold: either by directly inserting the bone displacement from X-ray imaging, which provides mechanical stress on the foot soft
tissues and consequently some indications on the comfort, or by applying a movement using the biomechanical model and deduce the key parameters (skin shear, pressure). Because of the high degree of complexity of the mechanical problem (26 bone segments, 33 joints, 107 ligaments, 20 muscles), the expected calculation time for the full model is high. A reduced model will be considered, based on an adaptation of a classical methodology.
This PhD project will be developed in the ST Bio team. ST Bio investigates the mechanical interaction between medical devices and human body in close collaboration with local partners, being university hospital or medical textile industries since 2004. ST Bio is composed of 26 people (10 permanent staff) and is hosted at the Campus Santé Innovation, a campus grouping all the medical and engineering laboratories working on health.
Keywords: Biomechanics, Finite Elements Modeling, Medical imaging
Candidate profile: Ability to work cooperatively in an interdisciplinary group.
A desire to bring new understanding to biomechanical problems.
Solid knowledge in mechanical modeling.
Proficiency in English language.
Recruitment procedure
CV and motivation letter reception before Sept. 30, 2016 (included).
Interview of selected candidates: before Oct. 10.
Comparative evaluations and final decision on Oct. 10, 2016.
Selection committee: Human resources director, CIS director, PhD director and supervisors.