*Department of Health Technology and Informatics,
**Institute of Textiles and Clothing,
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Hong Kong, China
Phone: +852-2766 4939, Fax: +852-2362 4365,
E-mail: htmzhang@polyu.edu.hk

Mechanic interaction between foot and sock is an important factor affecting wearing comfort. In this paper, we introduced a finite element (FE) approach to model the contact between the foot and sock. A biomechanical foot model consisting of bones and soft tissues and an orthotropic and elastic sock model were constructed for simulating the contact process. By using the model, we simulated the process of wearing a sock, which consisted of two kinds of materials. The stress and pressure distributions in the sock as well as that in the foot were predicted. The comparison between the pressure measurements at several geometrically characteristic points and the predicted pressures confirmed that the model was able to simulate the sock wearing condition and predict the pressure exerted by socks. It was also demonstrated that the skin pressure depended on the curvature of the contact surface and the stress in the fabric. The developed FE model allows us to carry out parametric analysis on socks of different styles and materials with a relatively quick and easy way and to provide guidance to the functional design of socks.

Sock wearing plays an important role in maintaining the in-shoes foot comfort, reducing the friction between the foot skin and shoes, and good shoes fitting and preventing slippage. Nowadays, various functional socks are available, inducing various physical, physiological and psychological effects. For example, suitable compression support is provided in sports socks to help increasing the movement performance, and in compression stockings and pantyhose for the patients suffering some diseases such as varicose vein (Ramelet 2002). The design for these functional socks is much more complicated. Theoretical understanding of the mechanical interaction between the foot/leg and sock is necessary.

Early research on socks focused on investigating heat and moisture transfer properties (Uchiyama et al. 1982) and hygienic treatment (Sano 1959; Mizunoue 1977). The very few research about mechanics of socks was measuring fabric tension in socks for size testing (Emmanuel 1979; Merrit 1989). The research on mechanical interaction was limited to pressure measurement and prediction. Momota et al. carried out objective measurement and subjective evaluation of clothing pressure caused by Japanese women\u2019s and men\u2019s socks to study the pressure effect on human comfort feelings (Momota et al. 1993a; Momota, Makabe et al. 1993b). Morooka investigated the relationship between the slippage in shoes and the frictional property and fabric thickness of men\u2019s socks via wearing trails. On the other hand, some researchers focused on predicting the pressure from measured stretch of fabric and the geometry of the leg surface (Inoue et al. 1992; Ng and Hui 2001). Model that describes the mechanical interaction between body and socks has not been reported.

In biomechanics research, various 2-D and 3-D foot models by finite element (FE) approach have been employed to model the foot-shoe interface with the aim of investigating plantar pressure and stress in foot during various stance phases of gait. Gefen et al. (Gefen 2000; Gefen 2002), Chen et al. (Chen et al. 2001) and Jacob and Patil (Jacob and Patil 1999) developed 3-D biomechanical foot models consisting of bones, soft tissues, cartilage and ligaments, analyzed the stress distribution in foot during various stance phases of gait mainly for clinical applications. Furthermore, Chen et al. (Chen et al. 2003) and Lemmon et al. (Lemmon 1997) modeled the foot-insole interface to investigate the insole effect on the plantar pressure distribution. Some researchers focused on the in-shoe pressure during walking, running or doing other sports in order to provide guidance for sports shoes design (Geil 2002; Aguinaldo and Mahar 2003). However, since the mechanical contact between foot and flexible sock is

In this paper, we studied the physical mechanisms of foot and sock contact using a FE model based on the theory of contact mechanics. We simulated the contact between a foot model consisting of bones and soft tissue and a sock model. Series of computational analyses were conducted to study the influence of materials on the stress and pressure distributions. Moreover, the predicted pressure was compared to the measured result.

Since the purpose of the present study is to investigate the pressure and stress in foot resulting from wearing sock, so we assumed that foot deformation was limited to soft tissue. Therefore, simplifications were made such that all the bones and cartilages were combined as a whole skeleton with the rest parts of the foot considered as soft tissue. The geometries of the foot and inner skeleton were reconstructed from coronal magnetic resonance images (MRI) (see Fig. 1) of a 26-year-old normal male subject.