Simulation of active skeletal muscle tissue with a transversely isotropic viscohyperelastic continuum material model

Abstract

Human body models with biofidelic kinematics in vehicle pre-crash and crash simulations require a constitutive model of muscle tissue with both passive and active properties. Therefore, a transversely isotropic viscohyperelastic continuum material model with element-local fiber definition and activation capability is suggested for use with explicit finite element codes. Simulations of experiments with New Zealand rabbit's tibialis anterior muscle at three different strain rates were performed. Three different active force-length relations were used, where a robust performance of the material model was observed. The results were compared with the experimental data and the simulation results from a previous study, where the muscle tissue was modeled with a combination of discrete and continuum elements. The proposed material model compared favorably, and integrating the active properties of the muscle into a continuum material model opens for applications with complex muscle geometries.

An optimized transversely isotropic, hyper-poro-viscoelastic finite element model of the meniscus to evaluate mechanical degradation following traumatic loading

“…FE analyses in the past have assumed the meniscus to be solely poroelastic (Haemer et al, 2012; Proctor et al, 1989; Spilker et al, 1992), while viscoelasticity is a common approach to evaluating experimental time dependent behavior of orthopedic tissues (Hayes and Mockros, 1971; Khodaei et al, 2013; Li et al, 2005; Troyer and Puttlitz, 2011). However, the inclusion of only one of these models provides an oversimplification of the physiological mechanisms that drive tissue mechanics.…”

Modeling Skeletal Muscle Stress and Intramuscular Pressure: A Whole Muscle Active–Passive Approach

“…approach in this work was chosen based on the experimentally measured volume of tissue comprised of solid muscle in contrast and fluid content, specifically a 20/80 split of excitable to passive only [30,44]. Previous finite element modeling efforts of skeletal muscle have utilized similar three-dimensional inhomogeneous assumptions about contractile constituents [18,45,46], homogeneous assumptions [17,20,28,43,[47][48][49][50][51][52], and a combination of threedimensional and one-dimensional elements [42,53,54]. The approach implemented here is clearly a macroscopic geometric approximation of skeletal muscle, but it does justify insight into the inhomogeneous behavior of the tissue, particularly for intramuscular pressure (Fig.…”

Modeling of active skeletal muscles: a 3D continuum approach incorporating multiple muscle interactions

“…The biophysical Huxley-type model for muscle contraction considered the cross-bridges and dynamics of myosin filaments within muscle. Usually, it needs a detailed set of experimental data to calibrate the model, and it is computationally expensive ( Khodaei et al, 2013 ). Recent advances in multiscale biophysical muscle modeling have enabled simulation from the microscopic half-sarcomere level to the whole-muscle organ level ( Röhrle et al, 2012 ; Heidlauf et al, 2016 ; Spyrou et al, 2019 ).…”

“…There have been several advancements in the constitutive modeling for simulating complex active skeletal muscle behaviors at the macroscopic scale, including tissue strain, intramuscular pressure, muscle force, fatigue, and parameter identification ( Blemker et al, 2005 ; Grasa et al, 2011 ; Khodaei et al, 2013 ; Lu et al, 2010 and 2011a; Tang et al, 2007 and 2009; Wheatley et al, 2018 ; Klotz et al, 2021 ). For example, Blemker et al (2005) created a 3D FE model of the biceps brachii and compared the predicted tissue strains with experimental data.…”