Skin characteristics by laser generated surface waves

This paper discusses a study into the suitability of using laser generated surface acoustic waves for the characterisation of skin properties without causing any damage to the skin thermally or by mechanical disruption. Using commercial Finite Element Code ANSYS, the effects of laser wavelength, laser beam radius and laser rise time on generation of laser generated ultrasonic waves in a 3-layered elastic isotropic model of human skin were studied. The FE model is an example of a sequential coupled field analysis where the thermal and mechanical analyses are treated separately. The heating of the skin model due to the short laser pulse is simulated by a dynamic thermal analysis with the laser pulse modeled as volumetric heat generation and the results from this analysis subsequently applied as a load in the mechanical analysis where the out-of-plane displacement histories are analyzed. The technique described in this paper also involves measuring the propagation velocity of SAWs, which are directly related to the material properties, and thickness of layers, this is done over a wide frequency range in order to obtain maximum information regarding the material under test.