Nonlocal Effect on Stiffness Measurements of a Collagen Molecule

Accurate modeling of collagen molecules including their stiffness is essential for our understanding of mechanics of collagen fibers and tissues where these fibers play a prominent role. Studies of mechanical properties of collagen molecules employing various experimental methods and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations yield a broad range of values of the modulus of elasticity. The effect of nonlocal elasticity on the molecule stiffness derived from experiments and simulations is assessed in this brief. The estimate of the correction accounting for the nonlocal effect utilizes the exact solution of the nonlocal elasticity theory for one-dimensional elastic bars. It is demonstrated that the effect of nonlocal elasticity on the stiffness of collagen molecules can be neglected.