Evaluation of a combination of continuum and truss finite elements in a model of passive and active muscle tissue

The numerical method of finite elements (FE) is a powerful tool for analysing stresses and strains in the human body. One area of increasing interest is the skeletal musculature. This study evaluated modelling of skeletal muscle tissue using a combination of passive non-linear, viscoelastic solid elements and active Hill-type truss elements, the super-positioned muscle finite element (SMFE). The performance of the combined materials and elements was evaluated for eccentric motions by simulating a tensile experiment from a published study on a stimulated rabbit muscle including three different strain rates. It was also evaluated for isometric and concentric contractions. The resulting stress–strain curves had the same overall pattern as the experiments, with the main limitation being sensitivity to the active force–length relation. It was concluded that the SMFE could model active and passive muscle tissue at constant rate elongations for strains below failure, as well as isometric and concentric contractions.

[1]  C. G. Lyons,et al.  A validated model of passive muscle in compression. , 2006, Journal of biomechanics.

[2]  J.G.P. Williams.  First and Last Experiments in Muscle Mechanics , 1971 .

[3]  S. Delp,et al.  Influence of Muscle Morphometry and Moment Arms on the Moment‐Generating Capacity of Human Neck Muscles , 1998, Spine.

[4]  D. E. Brooks,et al.  Viscoelastic characteristics of muscle: passive stretching versus muscular contractions. , 1997, Medicine and science in sports and exercise.

[5]  W. Herzog,et al.  Force enhancement above the initial isometric force on the descending limb of the force-length relationship. , 2002, Journal of biomechanics.

[6]  M R Drost,et al.  Passive transverse mechanical properties of skeletal muscle under in vivo compression. , 2001, Journal of biomechanics.

[7]  Adam Wittek,et al.  Hill-type Muscle Model for Analysis of Mechanical Effect of Muscle Tension on the Human Body Response in a Car Collision Using an Explicit Finite Element Code , 2000 .

[8]  R. Ogden,et al.  Large deformation isotropic elasticity: on the correlation of theory and experiment for compressible rubberlike solids , 1972, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. A. Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

[9]  Gennadiy Nikishkov,et al.  Finite Element Model , 2010 .

[10]  K. Brolin,et al.  The Effect of Muscle Activation on Neck Response , 2005, Traffic injury prevention.

[11]  M. Freeman.  Strength of Biological Materials , 1971 .

[12]  S. Cowin,et al.  Biomechanics: Mechanical Properties of Living Tissues, 2nd ed. , 1994 .

[13]  Chris A. Van Ee,et al.  ON THE STRUCTURAL AND MATERIAL PROPERTIES OF MAMMALIAN SKELETAL MUSCLE AND ITS RELEVANCE TO HUMAN CERVICAL IMPACT DYNAMICS , 1995 .

[14]  R. Christensen.  Theory of viscoelasticity : an introduction , 1971 .

[15]  L Stark,et al.  Estimated mechanical properties of synergistic muscles involved in movements of a variety of human joints. , 1988, Journal of biomechanics.

[16]  R. Ogden.  Large Deformation Isotropic Elasticity—On the Correlation of Theory and Experiment for Incompressible Rubberlike Solids , 1973 .

[17]  Roger W Nightingale,et al.  Improved estimation of human neck tensile tolerance: reducing the range of reported tolerance using anthropometrically correct muscles and optimized physiologic initial conditions. , 2003, Stapp car crash journal.

[18]  R L Lieber,et al.  Sarcomere length operating range of vertebrate muscles during movement. , 2001, The Journal of experimental biology.

[19]  W Herzog,et al.  A Framework for Structured Modeling of Skeletal Muscle , 2004, Computer methods in biomechanics and biomedical engineering.

[20]  D Hawkins,et al.  Muscle and tendon force-length properties and their interactions in vivo. , 1997, Journal of biomechanics.

[21]  K Hayashi,et al.  Mechanical properties of rabbit patellar tendon at high strain rate. , 1998, Bio-medical materials and engineering.

[22]  P. S. Duxbury,et al.  What is a validated model , 2004 .

[23]  Adam Wittek.  Mathematical Modeling of the Muscle Effects on the Human Body Responses under Transient Loads - Example of the Head-Neck Complex , 2000 .

[24]  V. Der,et al.  Human head neck response in frontal, lateral and rear end impact loading : modelling and validation , 2002 .

[25]  Kenton R Kaufman,et al.  Correlation between active and passive isometric force and intramuscular pressure in the isolated rabbit tibialis anterior muscle. , 2003, Journal of biomechanics.

[26]  W E Garrett,et al.  The influence of strain rate on the passive and stimulated engineering stress--large strain behavior of the rabbit tibialis anterior muscle. , 1998, Journal of biomechanical engineering.

[27]  R. Blickhan,et al.  A finite-element model for the mechanical analysis of skeletal muscles. , 2000, Journal of theoretical biology.

[28]  D. Chow,et al.  Active finite element analysis of skeletal muscle-tendon complex during isometric, shortening and lengthening contraction. , 2004, Bio-medical materials and engineering.