Nonlinear mechanics of remodeling

Abstract

In this paper, we present a large-deformation formulation of the mechanics of remodeling. Remodeling is anelasticity with an internal constraint—material evolutions that are mass and volume-preserving. In this special class of material evolutions, the explicit time dependence of the energy function is via one or more remodeling tensors that can be considered as internal variables of the theory. The governing equations of remodeling solids are derived using a two-potential approach and the Lagrange–d’Alembert principle. We consider both isotropic and anisotropic solids and derive their corresponding remodeling equations. We study a particular remodeling of fiber-reinforced solids in which the fiber orientation is time-dependent in the reference configuration—SO(3)-remodeling. We define an additional remodeling energy, which is motivated by the energy spent in collagen fiber-reinforced living systems to remodel to enhance stiffness or strength in the direction of loading. We consider the examples of a solid reinforced with either one or two families of reorienting fibers and derive their remodeling equations. This is a generalization of some of the proposed remodeling equations in the literature. We study three examples of material remodeling, namely finite extensions and torsion of solid circular cylinders, which are universal deformations for incompressible isotropic solids and certain anisotropic solids. We consider both displacement and force-control loadings. Detailed parametric studies are included for the effects of various material and loading parameters on fiber remodeling. It is observed that during remodeling, there is a competition between the action of the internal strain energy function and the remodeling energy. For a given material, a remodeling process dominated by strain energy works to align fibers in a direction that minimizes strain energy. On the other hand, a remodeling process dominated by the remodeling energy aligns fibers in the direction of the maximum principal strain according to a constitutive choice. We finally linearize the governing equations of the remodeling theory and derive those of linear remodeling mechanics.