Abstract
We resort to non-linear viscoelasticity to develop a truss element able to model reversible softening in lung epithelial tissues undergoing transient stretch. Such a Maxwell truss element is built by resorting to a three-noded element whose mid-node is kinematically constrained to remain on the line connecting the end-nodes. The whole mechanical system undergoes an additive decomposition of the strains along the truss direction where the total contribution of the mid-node is accounted for by using a null-space projection and static condensation techniques. Assembling of such line-elements in 3D networks allows us to model extended regions of living tissues as well as their anisotropies.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 44-49 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Mechanics Research Communications |
| Volume | 49 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 15 Mar 2013 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Maxwell
- Null-space
- Reversible softening
- Truss
- Viscoelasticity