The hardness of a penis can be measured by intracavernosal pressure...

An incredibly complicated research project in the United States is looking at the exact mechanisms that enable a man to achieve an erection and this hopefully will be put to good use to help scientists understand more about the exact processes that determine erectile dysfunction.The scientists are approaching the problem in a purely mechanical engineering way and have likened the failure of an erection to a column unable to support a heavy weight. They are using special mathematical models that will accurately map out the geometry of a man’s penis and all its hydrostatic pressure points. The idea is that eventually doctors will be able to predict the likelihood of a man’s penis being unable to support its own weight.

The hardness of a penis can be measured by intracavernosal pressure or ICP which is the liquid pressure that is attained by the build up of blood in the special chambers within the penis that expand as blood enters into them. A normally healthy man will have an ICP of between 60 to 90 millimetres of mercury and anything below 60 can mean that a man is suffering from erectile dysfunction. Men who use drugs like Viagra, Cialis and Levitra will be able to maintain a higher ICP that will enable them to sustain harder and longer erections. 

Professor Udelson who is an aerospace engineering professor based at Boston University, as well as an urologist, reckons that the geometry of a man’s penis (especially the width to length ratio) is instrumental in determining whether an erection will hold up and be sustained during sexual intercourse. He has developed a penis model that can work out the “buckling force” taking into account the length of the penis, the circumference of the penis and also the ease in which the penis expands over a whole range of different ICP’s. Professor Udelson said that the geometric model was not his but was a close adaptation of other mathematical research going back over 200 years.

The research used almost 60 men who suffered from erectile dysfunction and the men were made erect by having a saline solution injected into their penises and then they were subjected to pressure at the end of it, until it started to bend so that the strength of the erect penis could be measured and calculated. This research is the most detailed penis strength research that we have ever come across at Ukmedix News and could be useful to scientists who are trying to develop new cures and remedies for erectile dysfunction.