A microstructurally-based, multi-scale, continuum-mechanical model for the passive behaviour of skeletal muscle tissue

Abstract

This work presents a novel microstructurally-based, multi-scale model describing the passive behaviour of skeletal muscle tissue. The model is based on the detailed description of the mechanically relevant parts of the microstructure. The effective constitutive material response is obtained by a homogenisation of mechanical energies and stresses from the micro- to the macroscale. The key feature of the new model is that it does not require any constitutive assumptions or calibration on the macroscale. The effective mechanical response is a pure consequence of the stiffness and structural arrangement of microscopic components. In this sense, the model inherits its direction-dependent properties directly from the microstructure. This is achieved by employing a Voigt-type homogenisation and by utilising for the complex collageneous network of the extracellular matrix an angular integration method. For physiologically realistic microscopic model parameters, this model reveals that muscle tissue exhibits a tensile stiffness that is larger transverse to the muscle fibre than in muscle fibre direction. This highlights that muscle tissue in general does not obey a classical fibre-reinforcement solely for tensile stretches of the muscle fibres but rather a general transversely isotropic behaviour. Moreover, the formulation of the effective macroscopic energy is provided in terms of well-known macroscopic strain invariants, which allows for an easy application of the model in standard numerical settings.