IGERT Story
Non-linear modeling of active biohybrid materials
Description
The research of Trainee Chris Paetsch (PhD candidate in Civil & Environmental Engineering) is focused on constitutive modeling and non-linear finite element analysis of highly deformable structures and material. Expanding on findings he presented in an earlier paper (Paetsch, C., Trimmer, B. A., Dorfmann, A., 2012. A constitutive model for active-passive transition of muscle fibers, Int. J. Nonlinear Mech. 47, 377–387), Chris and IGERT affiliated professor Luis Dorfmann have implemented a model for simulating muscle transitioning between activation states in a non-linear finite element context. Resulting numerical simulations accurately account for the behavior of active biohybrid devices, which can be used as bioactuators to control the movements of soft robots. The use of mathematical models to analyze the response of active biohybrid material with complex geometries under non-trivial boundary conditions will facilitate the design of such devices. This work is reported in a paper that will be published in The International Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics.
