Biomechanical Aspects of Soft Tissues

Benjamin Loret is professor of mechanics and civil engineering at the University of Grenoble, France. His research addresses the constitutive responses of engineering and biological materials to static and dynamic loadings. He has especially focused on the couplings of thermal, hydraulical, electrical, chemical and mechanical natures that are ubiquitous in fluid saturated porous media. Applications target innovative energy production systems and biomechanics of soft tissues. Fernando. M.F. Simões was born on July 23rd, 1964, in Lisboa, Portugal. He has received is Ph.D. degree in civil engineering from the Instituto Superior Técnico of the Technical University of Lisboa, Portugal, in 1997. Presently, he is Assistant Professor at the Department of Civil Engineering, Architecture and GeoResources (University of Lisbon). His research interests include structural mechanics and biomechanics.

Biomechanical topics in soft tissues. Solids and multi-species mixtures as open systems: a continuum mechanics perspective. Elements of continuum mechanics. Thermodynamic properties of fluids. Multi-species mixtures as thermodynamically open systems. Anisotropic and conewise elasticity. Hyperelasticity, a purely mechanical point of view. Poroelasticity with a single porosity. Viscoelasticity and poro-viscoelasticity. Thermoelasticity and thermo-poroelasticity. Transfers of mass, momentum and energy. Waves in thermoelastic solids and saturated porous media. Electro-chemo-mechanical couplings : tissues with a fixed electric charge. Directional averaging and mechanical properties of fiber-reinforced tissues. Electro-chemo-mechanical couplings. Chemo-mechanical couplings in articular cartilages. Passive transport in the interstitium and circulation: basics. Coupled transportsin tissues endowed with a fixed electric charge. Effects of pH on the transport and mechanical properties of articular cartilages. Finite element analysis of electro-chemo-mechanical couplings. Two lamellar tissues: cornea and annulus fibrosus. Active transport. Growth of biological tissues. Tissue Engineering: overview of biochemical data and mechanical modeling. Growth of soft tissues. Kinematics, formulation and examples. Elastic-growing solids. Thermodynamically consistent growth laws. Elastic-growing mixtures. Solid tumors: biochemical overview and mechanical modeling. Units and physical constants. Bibliography