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arXiv · 1412.2612

A Model for Compression-Weakening Materials and the Elastic Fields due to Contractile Cells

Phoebus Rosakis·Jacob Notbohm·Guruswami Ravichandran
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Abstract

We construct a homogeneous, nonlinear elastic constitutive law, that models aspects of the mechanical behavior of inhomogeneous fibrin networks. Fibers in such networks buckle when in compression. We model this as a loss of stiffness in compression in the stress-strain relations of the homogeneous constitutive model. Problems that model a contracting biological cell in a finite matrix are solved. It is found that matrix displacements and stresses induced by cell contraction decay slower (with distance from the cell) in a compression weakening material, than linear elasticity would predict. This points toward a mechanism for long-range cell mechanosensing. In contrast, an expanding cell would induce displacements that decay faster than in a linear elastic matrix.

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Phoebus Rosakis, Jacob Notbohm, Guruswami Ravichandran. 2014-12-08. A Model for Compression-Weakening Materials and the Elastic Fields due to Contractile Cells. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmps.2015.08.013

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