Leibniz MMS Days 2022 - Abstract

Sharma, Abhinav

Mechanics of Biopolymer networks

Disordered filamentous networks are ubiquitous in Biology, e.g. Acto-Myosin network in cytoskeleton and collagen networks in skin and tissues. These networks provide mechanical integrity to cells and tissues. When subjected to a global deformation, for instance under shear, the network deforms in a highly nonaffine fashion. These microscopic, internal deformations can become divergent near the onset or loss of rigidity and impact the macroscopic elastic behaviour of the material. In this talk, I will present the modelling approach to such networks and the challenges associated with the computation of microscopic and macroscopic properties. Furthermore, I will talk about the unifying theoretical framework of mechanical critical phenomena to understand the mechanics of such network.