Current methods in computer-aided engineering for footwear design

Existing studies on footwear biomechanics rely on limited experimental analyses such as kinetics and kinematics, plantar pressure and muscle electromyography. Because of the complexity of foot–shoe interface and individualized subject response with different footwear, consistent results regarding the biomechanical performance of footwear or its components can yet be achieved. The use of computer-aided engineering (CAE) approach considering comprehensive computational footwear model can be an efficient and economic alternative to allow objective and economic evaluations and optimization of its performance. Numerical simulation technique such as the finite element (FE) method can allow realistic simulations of foot and footwear interface and offer in-depth biomechanical information such as internal stress and strain distributions of modeled structures. In this paper, existing FE studies on footwear are reviewed and recent FE applications in footwear industry are presented. The current methods for establishing the CAE procedures for footwear design and evaluation are discussed.