Modeling of anisotropic softening phenomena: Application to soft biological tissues

A thermodynamically consistent dissipative model is proposed to describe softening phenomena in anisotropic materials. The model is based on a generalized polyconvex anisotropic strain energy function represented by a series. Anisotropic softening is considered by evolution of internal variables governing the anisotropic properties of the material. Accordingly, evolution equations are formulated and anisotropic conditions for the onset of softening are defined. In numerical examples, the model is applied to simulate the preconditioning behavior of soft biological tissues subjected to cyclic loading experiments. The results suggest that the general characteristics of preconditioning with different upper load limits are well captured including hysteresis and residual deformations. A model for the Mullins effect is obtained as a special case and shows very good agreement with experimental data on mouse skin. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.