Mechanical Behavior of Fetal Dura Mater Under Large Axisymmetric Inflation

The nonlinear mechanical behavior of fetal dura mater was tested experimentally and compared to two published nonlinear material strain energy functions, the Mooney-Rivlin and the Skalak, Tozeren, Zarda, and Chien (STZC). The STZC constitutive relations best fit the behavior of the dura mater and were used to describe quantitatively its stiffness. Runge-Kutta numerical procedures were used to fit the theoretical data to the experimental results. The material’s stiffness was positively correlated with fetal weight (r = 0.67, p<0.05). These results are discussed and directions for future research indicated.