Preface of the guest‐editors

Abstract

Biomechanical investigations have a long tradition, especially, with respect to sports medicine and, more recently, to orthopaedic implant surgery. Apart from these fields of research, soft biological tissues have been studied both in the frame of single-phasic and multi-phasic materials. While the former approach includes all relevant tissue effects in an integral manner, the latter also distinguishes between the solid part of the tissue, such as collagen fibres and proteoglycans, and the interstitial fluid. On the basis of modern modelling and simulation techniques, further progress has been made by computational methods exerted on a variety of biomechanical applications. Actual research in the field of ‘Continuum Biomechanics’ is concerned with the mechanical description of biological systems, such as the human body. Ongoing investigations are related to different organs, such as the heart and the blood system with its arteries and veins, the load-bearing system including the spine with its vertebral bodies and its intervertebral discs, and the bones with all their articulating joints. Biomechanical research is a challenging task. As a result of an inherent coupling of solid-mechanical, fluid-mechanical and electrochemical effects, a biological tissue is a multi-component, multi-phasic, and multi-physical object that can be investigated at various scales. Furthermore, material parameters, which are necessary to calibrate the respective biomechanical model, have to be taken from in vivo, ex vivo and in vitro experiments with all their ethical implications. Finally, living systems proceed from a modelling and remodelling strategy, they can grow and recover after injuries, and they can move driven by muscle activation. It is obvious that an integration of all these effects in a single numerical tool in the sense of an ‘overall human model’ is a very ambitious challenge and a demanding goal of future research. To comprehend and to further the mechanical and mathematical activities in the field of ‘Continuum Biomechanics’ within the GAMM family, the ‘GAMM Biomechanics Activity Group’ (http://www.mechbau.uni-stuttgart.de/ls2/gammFA-biomech) has been founded in 2003. The articles of this volume are presented by members of this group and by other scientists, who have been invited by the editors. As a result, the topics range from multi-component and multi-physical porous media applications to swelling tissues and growth phenomena over a patient-specific analysis of articular cartilage, the problem of osseointegration of bone implants, friction-induced vibrations of artificial hip joints, the investigation of skeletal muscle fatigue to a universal model for the elastic, inelastic and active behaviour of soft biological tissue. The spectrum of these contributions provides an excellent insight in and a sound basis for future research in the exciting field of ‘Continuum Biomechanics’. The editors wish to thank the contributers for submitting their highly qualified articles. Their spontaneous willingness to be involved in this project is gratefully acknowledged.