| EPSRC Reference: |
GR/R53890/01 |
| Title: |
Development of a new predictive tool for redesigning incontinence bedpads |
| Principal Investigator: |
Cottenden, Professor AM |
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| Department: |
Medical Physics and Biomedical Eng |
| Organisation: |
UCL |
| Scheme: |
Standard Research (Pre-FEC) |
| Starts: |
12 November 2001 |
Ends: |
11 November 2004 |
Value (£): |
172,437
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| EPSRC Research Topic Classifications: |
| Med.Instrument.Device& Equip. |
Multiphase Flow |
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Summary on Grant Application Form |
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More than half the 206m UK market for pads and appliances for intractably incontinent people is spent on absorbent pads. Pads have improved greatly in the last decade but they still leak frequently leading to much embarrassment discomfort and extra laundry. Current development work mostly uses trial and error, which is time-consuming and costly, and simple laboratory tests whose relationship to clinical performance is usually unclear. Predictive models are needed.We propose creating and validating a predictive model for the spread of fluid in reusable bedpads, based on non-linear advection-diffusion equations like those used to address similar problems in such fields as hydrogeoloigy. The model will concentrate on two-dimensional infiltration into a deformed thin sheet of material (a bedpad) driven by external and capillary forces and will predict fluid distribution as a function of time and the volume and flow rate/time profile of applied fluid. The model will be able to accommodate fabric inhomogeneity in both the primary plane and the through-thickness direction of the bedpad. Prospective work has shown that such inhomogeneities can be used to maniupulate fluid spread. The model will be used to design new bedpads which make optimal use of existing materials. Bedpads will be built to the new designs and the predictions of the model validated experimentally.
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Key Findings |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Potential use in non-academic contexts |
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Impacts |
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| Description |
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk |
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Sectors submitted by the Researcher |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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