In research fields such as biophysics, biomedical engineering or biotechnology, a detailed understanding of the mechanics of biological tissues and their underlying structures is highly important. The mechanical properties of such tissues are mainly determined by the mechanics of biopolymer networks like the extracellular matrix or the cytoskeleton. Micromechanical simulations of these networks have attracted increasing interest in recent years due to their capability to deliver data generally inaccessible by means of experiments. Here, we introduce a simulation framework for biopolymer networks based on a finite element model of the filaments with a backward Euler time integration scheme. By means of simulations investigating the viscoelastic properties of a crosslinked biopolymer network, we demonstrate the potential of our method with respect to its applicability to many problems linked to biopolymer network mechanics. This article is strongly based on [1].     «

In research fields such as biophysics, biomedical engineering or biotechnology, a detailed understanding of the mechanics of biological tissues and their underlying structures is highly important. The mechanical properties of such tissues are mainly determined by the mechanics of biopolymer networks like the extracellular matrix or the cytoskeleton. Micromechanical simulations of these networks have attracted increasing interest in recent years due to their capability to deliver data generally i...     »