Abstract
Fiber alignment in biological tissues is created and maintained by the cells, which respond to mechanical stimuli arising from properties of the surrounding material. This coupling between mechanical anisotropy and tissue remodeling can be modeled in nonlinear elasticity by a fiber-reinforced hyperelastic material where remodeling is represented as the change in fiber orientation. Here, we study analytically a simple model of fiber reorientation in a rectangular elastic tissue reinforced by two symmetrically arranged families of fibers subject to constant external loads. In this model, the fiber direction tends to align with the maximum principal stretch. We characterize the global behaviour of the system for all material parameters and applied loads, and show that provided the fibers are tensile initially, the system converges to a stable equilibrium, which corresponds to either complete or intermediate fiber alignment.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 634-648 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Mathematics and Mechanics of Solids |
| Volume | 18 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2013 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2021-09-21Acknowledged KAUST grant number(s): KUK-C1-013-04
Acknowledgements: This publication is based on work supported by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (award number KUK-C1-013-04). AG is a Wolfson Royal Society Merit Holder and acknowledges support from a Reintegration Grant under EC Framework VII.
This publication acknowledges KAUST support, but has no KAUST affiliated authors.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Mechanics of Materials
- General Materials Science
- General Mathematics