Towards effective mechanical properties of skeletal muscle tissue via homogenisation

Abstract

AbstractThe constitutive modelling of skeletal muscle tissue in a continuum‐mechanical framework demands the consideration of many complex material characteristics. This complexity stems from the microscopic arrangement of different structural elements, such as, for example, sarcomeres and connective tissue. The former are responsible for the active contractile behaviour while the latter are mainly responsible for the passive stiffness of the muscle tissue. Thus, it is highly challenging to build appropriate macroscopic models based on phenomenological descriptions and yet cover most of the complex material behaviour. Strain‐energy functions have to be adapted for every significant material phenomena coming from experimental testing of muscle tissue. Another way to treat the modelling of active muscle tissue is to describe important parts of the heterogeneous microstructure and use homogenisation approaches to derive effective overall properties. This contribution aims to investigate and develop new homogenisation techniques for passive skeletal muscle tissue and is the first step towards the ultimate goal of developing a consistent framework that allows to derive macroscopic material properties for active muscle tissue based on microstructural characteristics. (© 2015 Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)