The field modelling language FieldML is being developed as a standard for modelling and interchanging field descriptions in software, suitable for a wide range of computation techniques. It comprises a rich set of operators for defining generalized fields as functions of other fields, starting with basic domain fields including sets of discrete objects and coordinate systems. It is extensible by adding new operators and by their arbitrary combination in expressions, making it well suited for describing the inherent complexity of biological materials and organ systems. This paper describes the concepts behind FieldML, including a simple example of a spatially varying finite-element field. It outlines current implementations in established, open source computation and visualization software, both drawing on decades of bioengineering modelling software development experience.

The FieldML project has made significant progress towards the goal of addressing the need to have open standards and open source software for representing finite element method (FEM) models and, more generally, multivariate field models, such as many of the models that are core to the euHeart project and the Physiome project. FieldML version 0.5 is the most recently released format from the FieldML project. It is an XML format that already has sufficient capability to represent the majority of euHeart’s explicit models such as the anatomical FEM models and simulation solution fields. The details of FieldML version 0.5 are presented, as well as its limitations and some discussion of the progress being made to address these limitations.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11517-013-1097-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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The mechanical behavior of fiber-reinforced composite thermoplastic sheets during forming processes is modelled as a viscous fluid with inextensibility and incompressibility constraints. Techniques of linear stability analysis are used to study the growth or decay of initial imperfections in plane sheets reinforced by two families of fibers subjected to biaxial strains. This theory delimits situations when buckles can be expected to form during forming operations.