Original Article

Proc IMechE Part H:

J Engineering in Medicine
2015, Vol. 229(5) 343–349
Necromechanics: Death-induced Ó IMechE 2015
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DOI: 10.1177/0954411915581409

of human tissues pih.sagepub.com

Pedro ALS Martins1,2, Francisca Ferreira1,2, Renato Natal Jorge1,2,

Marco Parente1,2 and Agostinho Santos3,4,5,6

Abstract
After the death phenomenon, the rigor mortis development, characterized by body stiffening, is one of the most evident
changes that occur in the body. In this work, the development of rigor mortis was assessed using a skinfold caliper in human
cadavers and in live people to measure the deformation in the biceps brachii muscle in response to the force applied by the
device. Additionally, to simulate the measurements with the finite element method, a two-dimensional model of an arm section
was used. As a result of the experimental procedure, a decrease in deformation with increasing postmortem time was
observed, which corresponds to an increase in rigidity. As expected, the deformations for the live subjects were higher. The
finite element method analysis showed a correlation between the c1 parameter of the neo-Hookean model in the 4- to 8-h
postmortem interval. This was accomplished by adjusting the c1 material parameter in order to simulate the measured experi-
mental displacement. Despite being a preliminary study, the obtained results show that combining the proposed experimental
procedure with a numerical technique can be very useful in the study of the postmortem mechanical modifications of human
tissues. Moreover, the use of data from living subjects allows us to estimate the time of death paving the way to establish this
process as an alternative to the existing techniques. This solution constitutes a portable, non-invasive method of estimating the
postmortem interval with direct quantitative measurements using a skinfold caliper. The tools and methods described can be
used to investigate the subject and to gain epidemiologic knowledge on rigor mortis phenomenon.

Keywords
Biomechanical testing, finite element method, rigor mortis, postmortem interval, necromechanics

Date received: 10 September 2014; accepted: 13 March 2015

Introduction makes muscles flaccid again, due to autolysis, that is,

After the death phenomenon, the body undergoes a
series of modifications known as postmortem changes.
One of the most evident modifications is body stiffen-
ing, known as cadaveric rigidity or rigor mortis.
Rigor mortis occurs in all muscular tissues, and it is
caused by a decrease in the adenosine triphosphate
(ATP) levels, which cause the binding of the muscle
filaments of actin and myosin, with consequent stiffen-
ing of the muscles.1,2 The phenomenon develops gradu-
ally and at a variable rate, being influenced by several
factors such as environmental temperature, physical
exercise before death and the cause of death.3,4 Usually
rigidity starts appearing 20 min after death and its
intensity increases achieving a maximum around 6–12 h
postmortem (Hpm). The maximum or full rigor may
last between 18 and 36 h.2 After that period, rigidity
gradually disappears.4,5 The disappearance of rigor
self-digestion of the cell by its own enzymes, and
decomposition of muscle cells.1 The development of
rigor mortis is frequently studied in forensic medicine
to estimate the postmortem interval, and in the food
industry, it is used to access the tenderness of meat.
1
Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
2
3
INEGI-Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
INMLCF, IP - Instituto Nacional de Medicina Legal e Ciências Forenses,
Instituto Público
4
CENCIFOR - Centro de Ciências Forenses, Coimbra, Portugal
5
FMUP - Faculdade de Medicina do Porto
6
UM-ESC - Universidade do Minho, Escola de Ciências da Saúde
Corresponding author:
Pedro ALS Martins, INEGI-Universidade do Porto, Campus da FEUP, Rua
Dr. Roberto Frias, 404, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal.
Email: palsm@fe.up.pt

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344
It is difficult to define an etiology of rigor mortis.
Environmental and individual variables, such as air tem-
perature, occurrence of physical exercise prior to death,
as well as race, gender, age and physical condition, are
some of the known factors influencing the onset and
evolution of rigor mortis.6 There is a wide range of inter-
individual variability, due to endogenous or exogenous
factors.7 Even without longitudinal studies on large ran-
dom samples, there are some thumb-rules regarding
many individual characteristics, which may allow us to
define a basic etiology of rigor mortis. In general, men
will have stronger rigor mortis than women since they
typically have larger muscle mass.8 For the same reason,
rigor may not be apparent or extremely hard to detect in
age groups where low muscle bulk is typical, that is, in
the young and in the old.1,8 According to Van den
Oever,6 the muscular mass is the main factor influencing
the onset, resolution and degree of complete rigor.
Several studies exist in which the development of
rigor mortis is evaluated. However, to the authors’
knowledge, no information can be found on the char-
acterization of the mechanical properties’ modification
with the time elapsed since the death phenomenon. In
contrast with Biomechanics, which includes the study
of the mechanical properties of living-adaptable tis-
sues,9 this study can more accurately be designated as a
study on Necromechanics:11 the study of the change in
mechanical properties of biological tissues with the
postmortem interval.
Biological soft tissues present a highly nonlinear
mechanical behavior since they undergo large strains
with small applied stresses.12 For this reason, soft tissues
are often studied using hyperelastic concepts, having a
behavior that can be compared to rubber-like and elas-
tomeric materials. Muscle tissue is usually considered as
homogeneous and transversely isotropic due to the pre-
dominant unidirectional alignment of the muscle fibers
and as incompressible due to the high water content. In
nonlinear mechanics, the response of the tissues is mod-
eled using constitutive laws that are derived from a
strain-energy density function or strain-energy function
(C).13 In the literature, there are several specific forms
of the strain-energy function that are frequently used
with variable efficiency to describe the elastic properties
of hyperelastic materials.
In this study, a skinfold caliper was used in human
cadavers to correlate the deformation measured using
the device on the biceps brachii with postmortem time.
The measurements were also performed in live people.
Additionally, finite element simulations were imple-
mented to simulate the measurements using a two-
dimensional (2D) model of a cross-section of the arm.
Materials and methods
Adipsmeter
The equipment used in this work consists of an adapted
Harpenden skinfold caliper, the Adipsmeter, and a
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Proc IMechE Part H: J Engineering in Medicine 229(5)
Figure 1. Sketch of the Adipsmeter.
software application, LipoSoft.14 The equipment was
originally developed to assess the body fat percentage
by measurement of the skinfold thickness using a sim-
ple, portable, non-invasive and low-cost diagnostic sys-
tem.15,16 The Adipsmeter is composed of a closed
cylindrical body, two jaws ending with clamps, a han-
dle and a lever (Figure 1). The system incorporates
digital sensing and a wireless communication system
with the software application.16
The device ensures a constant pressure of 10 gf/mm2
between the clamp faces and skin. Using a load cell, the
force measured in the extremities of the device is of
approximately 8.4 N, with an error smaller than 5% for
the opening range (0–120 mm). A mechanical rotating
mechanism keeps the parallelism between the clamps
faces for any jaw opening angle.15
Measurements on the cadavers
In this study, the Adipsmeter16 was used in human
cadavers to measure the deformation in the biceps bra-
chii muscle in response to the force applied by the
device. The measurements were performed at the
North Branch of National Institute of Legal Medicine,
I.P. (INML). All the procedures were subjected to the
approval of the direction board of the institute and in
all cases the Portuguese law for investigation in cada-
vers was respected. No post mortem harm was
inflicted. The measurements were performed both on
the left and right arms at 10 cm from the elbow joint
and with a distance of 9 cm between the two clamps.
To avoid inter-observer error, all the experimental data
were collected by the same person after a period of
adaptation to the technique. The corpses were kept at
room temperature and in supine position during the
procedure. The values were recorded within 5 s using a
sampling frequency of 50 Hz. The device records the
distance between the two clamps. Initially, the clamps
were placed at the measuring position in contact with
the skin but without deforming the tissues to measure
the initial thickness. Subsequently, the device was
allowed to deform the tissues with its calibrated force.
The thickness was measured while the load was being
applied. Every measurement was repeated twice with a
brief interval (3–4 min), and the final thickness was an
Martins et al.
average of both measurements. With these thickness
values, the displacement at a certain hour postmortem
was calculated by the following expression:
Dd = lt  l0
with l0 being the initial thickness and lt the thickness
while the force was being applied, measured at a certain
postmortem hour t. A decrease in the displacement
value with time indicates an increase in rigidity.
To study the evolution of rigor mortis, the measure-
ments were performed every hour during 4 h (in some
cases during 5 h) starting from the first measurement.
The population of this study consisted of a total of 18
corpses, 6 females and 12 males, with an average age of
62.9 6 16.8 years, an average body mass index (BMI) of
25.9 6 6.9 kg/m2 and a postmortem interval between 2
and 13 Hpm. The exclusion parameters included death
by drowning or fire, corpses with signs of cadaveric
decomposition or with significant muscular atrophy
and corpses stored in the cold chamber prior to the
measurement.
Measurements on live people
To compare the values obtained in the corpses with the
strain value measured in live people, the measurements
were also performed in 58 volunteers, 31 females and
27 males, with an average age of 40.8 6 15.1 years and
with an average BMI of 25.3 6 4.3 kg/m2. The proce-
dure to obtain and analyze the data was identical to the
one described previously. With these measurements,
the mean displacement value in the biceps brachii for
live people when subjected to the force applied by the
device was obtained. Additionally, this mean value also
gives an indication of the displacement expected to be
measured at the moment of death, that is, a baseline
deformation.
Both live volunteers and corpses were from the
North region of Portugal. There was no rigid control
of race; nevertheless, both groups were highly domi-
nated by Caucasians, as is typical of the demographics
of the region.
Finite element analysis
In this work, the compression of the biceps brachii in
response to the force applied by the Adipsmeter was
analyzed and computationally simulated using the
finite element method (FEM) with a simplified model
in ABAQUSÒ. For that purpose, a 2D model of the
arm was used to analyze the behavior of the tissues
when subjected to an applied load. The measurements
performed allowed us to estimate the mechanical prop-
erties of the different layers. The geometry of the arm
was reconstructed from the images obtained from the
Visible Human Project. The cadaver used in this proj-
ect was a 38-year-old male with a BMI of 27.9 kg/m2.
For this work, a slice of the thorax region containing
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345
the medial cross-section of the arm, which corresponds
to the area where the measurements were performed,
was chosen. Only the left arm was used for the simula-
tions. The real dimensions of the arm were obtained
through digital image analysis with the ImageJ soft-
ware, using the known dimension of the threaded holes
made to serve several purposes, such as to help in the
alignment of the cuts.17
The selected slice was manually segmented and the
contours of the different tissues that constitute the arm,
namely, the skin, fat, bone and the different muscles
(biceps brachii, brachialis, and medial, long and lateral
head of triceps brachii), were obtained. Afterwards, the
contours were imported into the software ABAQUS
and the finite element mesh was created. The finite ele-
ment mesh consisted of 4281 four-node bilinear plane
strain quadrilateral, hybrid, constant pressure elements
(CPE4H in ABAQUS). The clamps of the Adipsmeter
were modeled as 2D analytic rigid shells, while con-
straining the clamps’ rotations and their vertical move-
ment. The bone was considered as a rigid body. The
contact between the clamps and the skin was consid-
ered frictionless since the use of friction did not change
the simulation results significantly. The simulation was
performed with an imposed load of magnitude equal to
the load applied by the device, 8.4 N. The final finite
element model can be observed in Figure 2.
The material behavior for the different layers was
assumed to be homogeneous, isotropic, hyperelastic
and incompressible. Due to the presence of fibers, the
muscle behavior is normally assumed as transversely
isotropic, when a three-dimensional (3D) model is con-
sidered. Since a plane strain condition is assumed, and
the muscle fiber orientation is perpendicular to the sec-
tion considered in this study, as shown in Figure 2, the
effect of the fibers was neglected and the muscles
assumed as isotropic. To characterize the mechanical
behavior of the muscle and adipose tissue layers, the
neo-Hookean constitutive model was chosen following
the approach used by Tran et al.18 to estimate the
material constants for the different layers based on
indentation tests. In the neo-Hookean model, the
strain-energy density function for isotropic and incom-
pressible materials19 is given by (1)
C = c 1 ð I 1  3Þ ð1Þ
where I1 is the first scalar invariant of the right
Cauchy–Green tensor and is given by I1 = tr(C). In this
work, the adipose tissue was modeled with a c1 material
constant of 0.42 kPa. By comparing the numerical
results with the displacements observed experimentally
for live people and for the interval of 4–8 Hpm, the
muscle tissue material constant c1 of the neo-Hookean
model was manually adjusted in order to obtain a good
agreement between the FEM simulation and the experi-
mental results.
Regarding the skin layer, different properties
obtained from the literature were tested and the one
346
Figure 2. Finite element model used. The different materials are presented in different colors: skin in green, adipose tissue in
white, muscles in red and bone in blue. The two clamps of the device are presented in black at the initial position of the simulation.
presenting more suitable results regarding the experi-
mental data was chosen. In that sense, the skin was
modeled using the properties from Evans and Holt,19
which uses the Ogden material model to characterize
the mechanical properties of the skin. In this model,
the strain-energy function19 is expressed in terms of the
principal stretches (2)
X
N
mp  a a a 
Cðl1 , l2 , l3 Þ = l1 p + l2 p + l3 p  3
p=1
ap
The versatility of Ogden’s model lies on its extensibility
as additional terms, corresponding to additional para-
meter pairs ðmi , ai Þ : mi ai . 0, may be added depending
on problem complexity. It is widely used in many
engineering modeling applications of hyperelastic
materials. In this work, the skin layer was modeled
using m = 10 Pa and a = 26.
Results
Adipsmeter measurements
At each hour of the postmortem interval considered
(2–13 Hpm), both left arm and right arm measurements
were taken. Using the data obtained from the 18 cada-
vers, an average of the displacements at each Hpm was
calculated. This method allowed correlating the experi-
mental values with the postmortem time (Figure 3).
For Hpm with the highest number of cases
(4–8 Hpm), a trend line was drawn using a linear regres-
sion of the type, displacement = m 3 Hpm + b. The
results show that the displacement diminishes (with a
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Proc IMechE Part H: J Engineering in Medicine 229(5)
negative slope of approximately 20.50) with increasing
Hpm, which points to an increase in the rigidity. Data
for 3 and 9 Hpm were not included in the trend line cal-
culations, despite fitting the linear model reasonably
well, since sample size was approximately 50% of the 4-
to 8-Hpm interval. Data for 2 Hpm and in the interval
from 10 to 13 Hpm had to be discarded since the sam-
ple size was too small due to logistic constraints. In
order to compare the displacement measured in the
ð2Þ
corpses and in live people, the measurements were also
performed in 58 volunteers. A higher average displace-
ment value was measured in the live people
(31.27 6 4.62 mm) in comparison to the values mea-
sured in the cadavers, as expected. Additionally, a com-
parison between the values measured on the left and
right sides of the same muscular group was performed.
As a result, no considerable difference was found in the
evolution of rigor mortis on both sides of the body for
most of the measured cadavers. Nevertheless, the
obtained values differed in the muscular group side in
the majority of the population both in the corpses and
in the live people. A difference between both sides of the
body is not surprising since usually people do not have
equally developed muscles on both sides of the body.
Finite element analysis
In order to correlate the modification of the mechanical
properties with the postmortem time, the material para-
meter c1 of the neo-Hookean model for the muscle
layer was manually adjusted so that the simulation out-
comes corresponded to the total displacement observed
experimentally in the live people and in the corpses for
Martins et al.
Figure 3. Graphical representation of the average displacement values (mm) obtained in the biceps brachii muscle for the live
people and for the corpses according to the postmortem time. The vertical black lines represent the standard deviation. The gray
points represent the postmortem hours with the highest number of cases; for these points, a linear trend line was drawn and the
respective equation is shown in the top right corner.
Figure 4. Variation in the muscle tissues c1 material parameter
for the neo-Hookean model in live people (Hpm = 0) and with
the postmortem time.
the postmortem interval from 4 to 8 Hpm. In this work,
the properties of both the skin and adipose tissue layers
were assumed to remain unchanged during rigor mortis
evolution. As a result, the obtained values were
adjusted to a linear regression including dispþlive and
excluding disp-live; the value in the live people and the
obtained equations are shown in Figure 4. With this
result, it can be observed how the material parameter
c1 of the muscle changes with the postmortem time.
As an example, when running the FEM simulation
imposing the load applied by the device, for the
Hpm = 5 h, and with the material parameter
c1 = 3.7 KPa, the obtained displacement was 14.3 mm
for the right clamp and 8.1 mm for the left clamp
(Figure 5), which is in accordance with the values
obtained experimentally (Figure 3).
The asymmetry in the displacements of the right and
left clamps makes sense considering that on the right
side, the layer of adipose tissue (which is the one with
lower rigidity) is thicker than on the left side. In the
experimental data, it is not possible to distinguish
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347
whether the displacement is symmetric on both clamps
since only the total displacement is measured. However,
the displacement of each clamp is most likely asym-
metric due to the thickness inhomogeneity of the differ-
ent layers, as occurs in the example used to reconstruct
the arm geometry. For that reason, the obtained result
seems to correspond to a realistic situation, and to com-
pare with the experimental results, only the total displa-
cement (sum of the displacement obtained for the right
and left clamps) was considered.
Conclusion
After the death phenomenon, the body undergoes a
series of modifications known as postmortem changes.
The estimation of the postmortem interval is often
made based on these modifications, such as rigor mor-
tis. In this work, rigor mortis development was assessed
using a skinfold caliper both in human corpses and live
people. As a result, a decrease in the displacement val-
ues with the postmortem time was observed and a
higher displacement value was obtained for live people,
as expected.
It is clear in the data shown in Figure 3 that the
increase in stiffness in the interval between 0 and 3 Hpm
is very important. An ideal version of this work should
include the study of that interval, as well as the time
interval at which cadaveric rigidity starts to subside
(18–36 h after the beginning of full rigor). The logistical
constraints of this work did not allow the inclusion of
these periods, which limits our understanding of the
phenomena involved. However, we believe our methods
are adequate for the purpose of understanding the evo-
lution of rigor in the interval 4–8 Hpm.
Even though one knows that a decrease in displace-
ment is associated with an increase in rigidity, the
348
Figure 5. Reconstructed geometry after deformation resultant of an 8.4-N load applied on each clamp: (a) deformed geometry and
(b) maximum principal stresses distribution (MPa).
establishment of a relation between the measured val-
ues and a physical parameter that allows the characteri-
zation of the tissue mechanical behavior is of great
importance. This parameter might be the Young modu-
lus for elastic materials, or in the case of hyperelastic
materials, it can be the parameters of the constitutive
models. In this work, a first correlation between the
muscle material parameter c1 of the neo-Hookean
model and the time since death was already achieved.
In order to take more assertive conclusions, the sample
size should be increased, since this study was carried
out with a population of 18 cadavers. This would allow
obtaining a more accurate average displacement value
for each hour postmortem.
In addition, the method could be improved by the
implementation of an inverse FEM allowing the esti-
mation of the mechanical properties from the measured
experimental displacement in a more expeditious way.
Constructing a specific 2D geometry for each cadaver,
for example by the estimation of the thickness of each
layer using ultrasound imaging, would result in more
accurate simulations. Therefore, the lack of support
imaging techniques (X-ray, computed tomography
(CT) or ultrasound) is a limitation of this study.
Afterwards, applying in the different geometries, the
displacement obtained during the experimental mea-
surements and using an optimization algorithm, the
material parameters for each layer could be estimated
for different postmortem hours, and not only for the
muscle layer, as in this work. For that purpose, the
contribution of each layer to the final displacement
value should be studied. To mitigate this limitation, the
2D finite element model built on one level of the visual
human project was chosen taking into account the typi-
cal biceps size found on both cadavers and volunteers.
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Proc IMechE Part H: J Engineering in Medicine 229(5)
This general approach does not account for individual
variability but is a prototype of the technique to be
used with every subject in future tests.
The obtained results allow us to have a first insight
into how the mechanical properties of the muscular tis-
sue change with the postmortem time. Considering that
when working with human cadavers several restrictions
and ethical protocols need to be followed, the use of
minimal invasive procedures is of great importance
when dealing with human corpses. For that reason, the
proposed experimental procedure combined with a
numerical technique can be very useful in the study of
the mechanical modifications of human tissues after
death. This solution constitutes a portable, non-
invasive method of estimating the postmortem interval
with direct quantitative measurements using a skinfold
caliper. The tools and methods described can be used
to investigate the subject and to gain epidemiologic
knowledge on rigor mortis phenomenon. Moreover,
the use of data from living subjects allows us to esti-
mate the time of death as shown in Figure 4. If the
technique is able to provide an adequate degree of
accuracy in larger validation tests, it may be considered
as an alternative to estimate the time of death.
Declaration of conflicting interests
None declared.
Funding
xão para
This study was financially supported by Fundac
a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT)—Portugal, through the
Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional
(FEDER) under Grant SFRH/BPD/71080/2010 from
Fundo Social Europeu (FSE) under programs POPH-
Martins et al.
QREN, and Project ‘‘Biomechanics: contributions to
the healthcare’’, reference NORTE-07-0124-FEDER-
000035 co-financed by Programa Operacional Regional
do Norte (ON.2—O Novo Norte), through the Fundo
Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER).
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