by Keyword: Null-space
Muñoz, J. J., Conte, V., Asadipour, N., Miodownik, M., (2013). A truss element for modelling reversible softening in living tissues 
Mechanics Research Communications , 49, 44-49
We resort to non-linear viscoelasticity to develop a truss element able to model reversible softening in lung epithelial tissues undergoing transient stretch. Such a Maxwell truss element is built by resorting to a three-noded element whose mid-node is kinematically constrained to remain on the line connecting the end-nodes. The whole mechanical system undergoes an additive decomposition of the strains along the truss direction where the total contribution of the mid-node is accounted for by using a null-space projection and static condensation techniques. Assembling of such line-elements in 3D networks allows us to model extended regions of living tissues as well as their anisotropies.
JTD Keywords: Maxwell, Null-space, Reversible softening, Truss, Viscoelasticity
