In this paper we study wave propagation through a composite material built up of a periodically repeated one-dimensional structure of coated inclusions and matrix material by the application of the asymptotic homogenization method. We take into account geometrical nonlinearity, which is described by the Cauchy-Green strain tensor and physical nonlinearity by the Murnaghan elastic potential. We take into account structural nonlinearity by considering the bonding between two materials to be imperfect. As a result we obtain homogenized equations for the low-frequency range.

During pregnancy, the cervix experiences significant mechanical property change due to tissue swelling, and to ongoing changes in the collagen content. In this paper, we model how these two effects contribute to cervical deformation as the pressure load on top of the cervix increases. The cervix and its surrounding supporting ligaments are taken into consideration in the resulting mechanical analysis. The cervix itself is treated as a multilayered tube-like structure, with layer-specific collagen orientation. The cervical tissue in each layer is treated in terms of a collagen constituent that remodels with time within a ground substance matrix that experiences swelling. The load and swelling are taken to change sufficiently slowly so that the collagen properties at any instant can be regarded as being in a state of homeostasis. Among other things, the simulations show how the luminal cross-sectional area varies along its length as a function of pressure and swelling. In general, an increase in pressure causes an overall shortening of the lumen while an increase in swelling has the opposite effect.

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This article considers a thin-walled hollow cylinder, which is composed of a fibrous and swellable hyperelastic material. The fibers are arranged in two families and they are taken to be parallel within each fiber family. The two fiber families are also assumed to be mechanically equivalent and symmetrically disposed in the ground substance material. At each instant of the homogeneous swelling, the material is taken to be incompressible. This article studies the interplay of swelling, fiber orientation, and the mechanical properties of the constituents on the initiation as well as on the axial propagation of bulging.

A continuum mechanics constitutive model is presented for the interaction between swelling and collagen remodeling in biological soft tissue. The model is inherently two-way: swelling stretches the collagen fibers which affects their rate of degradation-the remodeled fibrous microarchitecture provides selective directional stiffening that causes the swollen tissue to expand more in the unreinforced directions. The constitutive model specifically treats stretch-stabilization wherein the rate of enzymatic-induced degradation of collagen is a decreasing function of fiber stretch. New collagen replacement takes place in a generally swollen environment, and this synthesis is tracked as a function of time by means of a time integration scheme that accounts for the historical sequence of collagen recreation. The model allows for the specification of the collagen pre-stretch at the time of first synthesis, thus allowing for the consideration of either initially limp replacement fiber or initially pre-tensioned replacement fiber. Loading and swelling that occurs on time scales that are commensurate with the natural time scales for fiber degradation and replacement lead to the consideration of time-integral constitutive equations. Loading and swelling that take place on time scales that are very different from that of the remodeling time scales provide a simplified treatment in which there are definite notions of a short-time instantaneous response and also a large-time approach to a steady-state condition of homeostasis.