Multi Modal Fingertip Elastography and Reconstruction Methods

This dissertation details the research of elastography applied speci cally to the human fingertip. Vibrations are induced on the surface of the fingertip and resulting wave propagation is measured to recreate mechanical properties such as shear modulus. In particular, three methods were used to measure wave propagation, Scanning Laser Doppler Vibrometry (SLDV), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), and Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT). All methods used Geometric Focused (GF) waves. GF waves use an annular ring actuator on the surface to produce converging waves to a focus point. Previous lab work used analytical equations to approximate the shear modulus. However, throughout the project, it was determined that the analytical solution proved to be invalid and a new post processing method to determine shear modulus was developed using Finite Element Analysis (FEA).