The purpose of this course is to provide the students with an approach to the tissue mechanics aimed at obtaining the relationship between function-property-microstructure. On the basis of the experimental observations of the mechanical response of the tissues, predictive models allowing for the knowledge of the constituents properties are formulated.
The lectures will follow a logical sequence on the basis of the modeling approaches. In particular, hard tissues like bone and soft tissues like arteries and ligaments will be selected as representative examples.
anisotropy of hard tissues: modeling material symmetries;
bone tissue as a composite material;
property-structure relationship at nano- and microscopic level;
brief introduction to homogenization methods for heterogeneous materials.
Trabecular bone tissue:
brief introduction to mechanical behaviour of cellular solids; simple mechanical models for elastic and post-elastic response of trabecular bone;
soft tissues: (vascular walls, tendons and ligaments, cartilage)
Brief description of tissue composition;
Kinetics and kinematics of tissues subjected to large deformations;
Constitutive relationships for isotropic and anisotropic tissue reponse;
Simple boundary value problems with specific reference to tissues;
Modeling of time dependent response of tissues: viscoelasticity;
Mechanics of cartilage: cartilage poroelasticity.
Expected knowledge acquired in this course:
The student should be able to show the modeling approach for the basic mechanical response of biological tissues with reference to both soft and hard tissues. Furthermore, the student should be able to formulate and solve simple boundary value problems in which specific biological structures are subjected to loads: governing equations, boundary conditions and solution strategies. The student should be able to critically discuss the results of the boundary value problems with specific reference to the phisiological and pathological conditions of the tissues.