Investigation of the interaction phenomena between foot and ground: experimental and numerical analysis

The present work outlines some general aspects of the analysis of interaction phenomena occurring between the plantar region of the foot and the ground. These phenomena are investigated by using a combined experimental-numerical approach. To evaluate the ground reaction forces and the plantar pressures distribution of a subject during walking, two different kinds of experimental tests are per-formed. The ground reaction force is monitored during walking and adopted to define the loading conditions for a subsequent numerical analysis. Geometrical configuration of the foot is provided on the basis of biomedical images. Specific attention is paid to define an appropriate constitutive model for all tissues of the foot. The numerical model developed includes the foot and the ground, provid-ing also for friction contact conditions to evaluate foot-ground interaction. Numerical analyses are performed with regard to different loading conditions during the gait cycle, in particular during the heel strike and the midstance phase. To validate the numerical results, the values of the plantar pres-sure predicted by the numerical model are compared with the experimental data obtained with a pe-dobarometric platform.