Fiber networks are assemblies of one-dimensional elements representative of materials with fibrous microstructures such as collagen networks and synthetic nonwovens. The mechanics of random fiber networks has been the focus of numerous studies. However, fiber crimp has been explicitly represented only in few cases. In the present work, the mechanics of cross-linked networks with crimped atherma...

Tissue engineering is aimed at the fabrication of autologous cardiovascular implants, for example, heart valves or vascular grafts. To date, the mechanical characterization of tissue-engineered vascular grafts (TEVGs) has focused mainly on the material's strength and not on the deformation behavior. A total of 31 samples obtained from 3 mature grafts (out of the cells of a single donor) were te...

Let $M$ be an orientable hypersurface in the Euclidean space $R^{2n}$ with induced metric $g$ and $TM$ be its tangent bundle. It is known that the tangent bundle $TM$ has induced metric $overline{g}$ as submanifold of the Euclidean space $R^{4n}$ which is not a natural metric in the sense that the submersion $pi :(TM,overline{g})rightarrow (M,g)$ is not the Riemannian submersion. In this paper...

The application of the Galerkin method, using global trial functions which satisfy the boundary conditions, to nonlinear partial differential equations such as those in the von Karman nonlinear plate theory, is well-known. Such an approach using trial function expansions involving multiple basis functions, leads to a highly coupled system of nonlinear algebraic equations (NAEs). The derivation ...

We developed an extension-inflation experimental apparatus with a stereo vision system and a stress-strain analysis method to determine the regional mechanical properties of a blood vessel. Seven proximal descending thoracic aortas were investigated during the inflation test at a fixed longitudinal stretch ratio of 1.35 over a transmural pressure range from 1.33 to 21.33 kPa. Four circumferenti...

OBJECTIVES The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of fetal undernutrition on the passive mechanical properties of skeletal muscle of weaned and young adult rats. INTRODUCTION A poor nutrition supply during fetal development affects physiological functions of the fetus. From a mechanical point of view, skeletal muscle can be also characterized by its resistance to passive stretch. ...

1. Write the formula for the Liouville measure Λ on the unit tangent bundle T 1 H n. Prove that Λ is invariant under the actions by Isom(H n) and the geodesic flow g t on T 1 H n. 2. Let δ be a geodesic in the hyperbolic space H n and let π : H n → δ denote the nearest point projection map. Suppose that for some x, y ∈ H n and some r > 0 we have d(x, δ), d(y, δ) ≥ r. Prove that d(π(x), π(y)) ≤ ...

In this paper, a simplified, economical and highly accurate method for large deformation, post-buckling, analyses of frame-type structures is presented. Using the concepts of polar-decomposition of deformation, an explicit expression for the tangent stiffness matrix of a member/element of the frame, that accounts for the nonlinear bending-stretching coupling, is derived in closed form, at any p...

Details of a unified creep-plasticity theory, based on the concept of an internal time, are presented, and a geometric interpretation of such a theory is given. A' tangent-stiffness' formulation, for the finite-element/boundary-element calculation of weak solutions of the strain-history in the structure, is presented. An implicit algorithm of generalized mid-point radial mapping for computing t...

Damage evolution in heterogeneous solids is modeled using transformation field analysis and imperfect interface model. Stress changes caused by local debonding are simulated by residual stresses generated by equivalent transformation strains or eigenstrains. Decohesion and both overall and local stress and strain rates are derived from thermodynamics of irreversible processes, which provide an ...