Abstract. In this paper, we present a virtual tactile model with the physically based skeleton to simulate force and deformation between a rigid tool and the soft organ. When the virtual trachea is handled, a skeleton model suitable for interactive environments is established, which consists of ligament layers, cartilage rings and muscular bars. In this skeleton, the contact force goes through the ligament layer, and produces the load effects of the joints , which are connecting the ligament layer and cartilage rings. Due to the nonlinear shape deformation inside the local neighbourhood of a contact region, the RBF method is applied to modify the result of linear global shape deformation by adding the nonlinear effect inside. Users are able to handle the virtual trachea, and the results from the examples with the mechanical properties of the human trachea are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach.