Computational modelling of hospital mattresses made from spacer fabrics

The appearance of pressure ulcers is a very common occurrence, especially for people with limited mobility who are obliged to spend a long time prone on a support surface. Pressure ulcers in severe cases can cause damage to underlying muscle and bone. Damage to deeper tissues, tendons and joints may also occur. Serious complications, such as infection of the bone (osteomyelitis) or blood (sepsis), can occur if pressure sores progress. While the main strategy for dealing with pressure ulcers is centred around the interaction of patient and care-giver (manually changing the position of the patient every two hours in order to relieve pressure on critical body areas, examination of patient for signs of pressure ulcer formation) there are auxiliary approaches, such as the choice of a pressure relieving support surface. Currently, a variety of support surfaces exists. The criteria of choice are dependent on factors such as the medical history of the patient and economic. The emergence of 3D spacer fabrics as textile materials with good compression behaviour makes them suitable candidates to produce support surfaces that contribute to the prevention of pressure ulcers. In order to decide on their suitability, extended clinical trials involving actual patients must be performed. In the present paper, a computational methodology utilizing a tool widely used in the area of engineering, namely Finite Element (FE) Method, is proposed as a supporting tool for the preliminary evaluation of the suitability in terms of mechanical behaviour of certain 3D spacer fabrics, providing an insight of the deformation, stress and strain developed on the bodies (human body – mattress) as well as on their interface. © 2020 Ege Universitesi. All rights reserved.