title: Numerical modelling of the fibre-matrix interaction in biaxial loading for hyperelastic soft tissue models.
abstract: This paper assumes that a neo-Hookean matrix with neo-Hookean fibres is representative of soft tissue. Under this assumption, a unit cell model is proposed to investigate the fibre-matrix interfacial stress field for biological soft tissue under biaxial loadings. In this unit cell model, the soft tissue is treated as a composite where the matrix is unidirectionally reinforced with a single family of aligned fibres. The results are compared with the model of Guo et al., which accounts for the fibre-matrix interfacial stress field, and Qiu and Pence's model, which does not proceed from the assumption that the fibres are themselves neo-Hookean. It is found that the stress representative of the fibre-matrix interface plays an important role in the deformation of the composite, and the model of Guo et al. underestimates this stress under large biaxial deformation.
authors.affiliation: School of Engineering, Cardiff University, CF24 3AA, Cardiff, UK; School of Dentistry, Cardiff University, CF14 4XY, Cardiff, UK.
authors.forename: Y T
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: H X
authors.initials: HX
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Richmond
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Middleton
mesh_terms: D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D004548:Elasticity; D008954:Models, Biological; D013314:Stress, Mechanical
keywords: fibre-matrix interaction; fibre-reinforced composite; large deformation; soft tissue; unit cell model