Copyright © 2005 Hindawi Publishing Corporation. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Non-linear elasticity theory may be used to calculate the coordinates of a deformed body when the coordinates of the undeformed, stress-free body are known. In some situations, such as one of the steps in the location of tumours in a breast, the coordinates of the deformed body are known and the coordinates of the undeformed body are to be calculated, i.e. we require the solution of the inverse problem. Other than for situations where classical linear elasticity theory may be applied, the simple approach for solving the inverse problem of reversing the direction of gravity and modelling the deformed body as an undeformed body does not give the correct solution. In this study, we derive equations that may be used to solve inverse problems. The solution of these equations may be used for a wide range of inverse problems in non-linear elasticity.