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Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 197 (2008) 1983–1996

www.elsevier.com/locate/cma

Application of the natural element method to finite

deformation inelastic problems in isotropic and
fiber-reinforced biological soft tissues
E. Peña, M.A. Martı́nez, B. Calvo, M. Doblaré *
Group of Structural Mechanics and Materials Modelling, Aragón Institute of Engineering Research, University of Zaragoza,
Marı́a de Luna, 5, E-50018 Zaragoza, Spain
CIBER-BBN, Networking Centre on Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine, Aragón Institute of Health Sciences,
Marı́a de Luna, 3, E-50018 Zaragoza, Spain

Received 22 August 2007; received in revised form 30 November 2007; accepted 25 December 2007
Available online 15 January 2008

Abstract

In this paper, the application of the natural element method (NEM) to solve inelastic finite deformation problems in isotropic and
fiber-reinforced materials is presented. As most meshless methods, the NEM does not require an explicit connectivity definition. Con-
sequently, it is quite adequate to simulate large strain problems with important mesh distortions, reducing the need for remeshing
and projection of results which becomes extremely important in three-dimensional problems. The NEM has also important advantages
over other meshless methods, such as the interpolant character of the shape functions and the ability of exactly reproducing essential
boundary conditions along convex boundaries. The a-NEM extension generalizes this behavior to non-convex boundaries. A fully
three-dimensional finite-strain damage model for visco-hyperelastic fibrous soft tissue has been implemented to solve different problems.
In order to show the performance of the constitutive model and its algorithmic counterpart some simple examples are included, com-
paring the obtained results with the ones obtained with a standard finite element approach. A more complex three-dimensional numerical
application to ligament mechanics is also presented. This example clearly shows the important capabilities of the NEM in this kind of
applications.
Ó 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Hyperelasticity; Internal variables; Natural element method; Finite strains; Continuum damage mechanics; Viscoelasticity

1. Introduction ment method (FEM) has been traditionally the preferred

Numerical simulation plays a fundamental role in many
branches of science where complex processes take place.
Computational biomechanics is one of these. Simulation
of soft organs deals with complex geometries, large defor-
mations and involved constitutive models. The finite ele-
*
Corresponding author. Address: Group of Structural Mechanics and
Materials Modelling, Aragón Institute of Engineering Research, Univer-
sity of Zaragoza, Marı́a de Luna, 5, E-50018 Zaragoza, Spain. Tel.: +34
976762707; fax: +34 976762578.
E-mail address: mdoblare@unizar.es (M. Doblaré).
tool to perform such simulations. However, the method
relies on the proper discretisation of the geometry, an
aspect which might become cumbersome with real geome-
tries. In this regard, mesh generation in a general three-
dimensional model is far from being completely automa-
tised and the development of a specific finite element model
usually takes a large amount of user time, and indeed when
the modelled organ suffers large deformations, a remeshing
strategy is frequently required in order to avoid numerical
errors that can break out the simulation [17].
In the last years, a new family of numerical methods
known as meshless or mesh-free methods has achieved a

0045-7825/$ - see front matter Ó 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.cma.2007.12.018
1984 E. Peña et al. / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 197 (2008) 1983–1996
rapid development. Duarte [18] and Belytschko et al. [6]
reviewed their main properties and their advantages and
drawbacks. One of their main advantages is the low depen-
dency of the computed results on the points distribution,
making these methods a good choice to solve large strain
problems. Another benefit is the no need of an explicit
mesh generation, which usually requires a large amount
of user time in cases with complex geometries. These two
characteristics, complex initial geometries and mesh distor-
tion associated to large strains, appear in the numerical
modelling of biological soft tissues. Therefore, a meshless
strategy seems to be an appealing choice to deal with this
type of problems. A recent member of the family of mesh-
less methods is the so-called natural element method
(NEM) or natural neighbour Galerkin method [7,40,51].
It is based on a Galerkin approximation built over the
well-known natural neighbour interpolation [42]. This type
of approximation uses the concepts of Delaunay triangula-
tion [16] and Dirichlet tessellation [52] to construct the
approximation functions which are defined over the convex
hull of the set of points that defines the domain under
study. Sukumar et al. [50], Sukumar [48] and Sukumar
and Moran [49] were the first to apply the NEM to 2D
solid mechanics, demonstrating some interesting properties
like its interpolating behavior, linear consistency, smooth-
ness of the shape functions and its capability to exactly
reproduce essential boundary conditions along convex
boundaries. Cueto et al. [13] proposed a modification to
generalize this property to non-convex boundaries. Some
applications of the NEM to mechanics can be found in
[13,14,49,50] for linear problems. Calvo et al. [8], Cho
and Lee [12] and Hehua et al. [23] used the NEM to solve
problems under large deformations, Doblaré et al. [17] used
it in Biomechanics, Alfaro et al. [3,4] to simulate metal
forming processes of Martinez et al. [30,31] for fluid
mechanics.
In particular, biological soft tissues are usually subjected
to large deformations with negligible volume change and
show a highly non-linear anisotropic mechanical response
due to their internal structure [35]. Their extra-cellular
matrix is composed of a network of collagen fibrils and
elastin fibres embedded in a viscous and quasi-isotropic
ground substance. Typical examples of fibred soft biologi-
cal tissues are blood vessels, tendons, ligaments, cornea and
cartilage. The purely elastic response of these tissues is
often modelled within the framework of continuum
mechanics by means of the definition of a strain energy
density function expressed in terms of kinematic invariants,
firstly developed by Spencer [47]. This approach was fur-
ther adapted to finite element formulations of soft collage-
nous biological tissues (see for example [54,34] for
ligaments; [25] for arteries; and [2] for cornea).
The construction of an accurate constitutive model for
soft tissues is complex. They are non-linear, anisotropic,
inhomogeneous, viscoelastic, and undergo large deforma-
tions. In particular, the rate-dependent material behavior
of this kind of materials has been well-documented and
quantified in the literature. This includes works on liga-
ments [39], tendons [27], blood vessels [26], cornea [36]
and articular cartilage [11]. This behavior can arise from
the fluid flow inside the tissue, from the inherent viscoelas-
ticity of the solid phase, or from viscous interactions
between the tissue phases [29]. Furthermore, non-physio-
logical loads may drive soft tissue to damage inducing a
strong reduction of their stiffness. Damage may arise from
two possible mechanisms: tear or plastic deformation of
the fibres, or biochemical degradation of the extracellular
matrix from protease release associated with the observed
cellular necrosis [38]. In order to obtain a realistic material
model, damage may be coupled with viscoelasticity to
account for both inelastic features [33]. To our knowledge,
the application of the natural element method to simulate
visco-hyperelastic materials with coupled damage has not
been recorded previously in the literature. Taking account
the features of the NEM, it seems to be an efficient alterna-
tive to the FEM for modelling biological soft tissues in the
non-physiological range when inelastic effects and large
deformations are involved.
The paper is organized as follows: Section 2 reviews the
continuum mechanics bases of hyperelastic materials with
coupled viscoelastic-damage behavior. Section 3 overviews
the NEM implementation, describing the standard natural
neighbour interpolation for two and three-dimensions, as
well as the implementation of the formulation for large
deformations. The application to some examples is pre-
sented in Section 4. Simple geometry examples are used
to validate the methodology. Next, an application to bio-
logical tissues is shown. The paper closes with some con-
cluding remarks in Section 5.
2. Computational modelling of coupled inelastic behavior
2.1. Lagrangian description of hyperelastic fibred materials
We choose a total Lagrangian description of the kine-
matics. Let us consider a continuum body with reference
configuration X0 at the initial reference time t ¼ 0. An
assumed motion v maps this configuration to the current
configuration X at each time t. Hence, a point X 2 X0
transforms to a point xðX; tÞ 2 X, where X and x define
the respective positions of one particle in the reference
and current configurations respectively relative to a fixed
set of axes.
Materials like most polymers or elastomers may suffer
finite strains with small volume changes, that is, quasi-iso-
choric (J  1) motions are possible. Such materials can be
considered quasi-incompressible thus implying that dila-
tional changes require much more external work than vol-
ume-preserving changes. Since these materials behave quite
differently in bulk and shear, the deformation is usually
split into a volumetric part and an isochoric part. There-
fore, for incompressible and quasi-incompressible materi-
als, a multiplicative decomposition of F into volume-
 E. Peña et al. / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 197 (2008) 1983–1996 1985

changing (dilational) and volume-preserving (distortional) oWðC; M; NÞ

S¼2 ¼ Svol þ S; ð6Þ
parts is usually established as in [21,46] oC
1 2
F ¼ J 3 F; C ¼ J 3 C: ð1Þ where the second Piola–Kirchhoff stress S consists of a
dx T purely volumetric contribution and a purely isochoric one.
In (1) F ¼ and C ¼ F F are the standard deformation
dX The associated decoupled elasticity tensor may be writ-
gradient and the corresponding right Cauchy–Green strain
ten as
measure.
In order to describe the anisotropic behavior of fibred oSvol oSiso
C ¼ Cvol þ Ciso ¼ 2 þ2 : ð7Þ
materials, the direction of a fiber at a point X 2 X0 is oC oC
defined by a unit vector field m0 ðXÞ, jm0 j ¼ 1. It is usually
assumed that, under deformation, the fiber moves with the The Cauchy stress tensor r and the elasticity tensor in the
material points of the continuum body. Therefore, the spatial description C are 1=J times the push-forwards of S
stretch k of the fiber defined as the ratio between its lengths and C, respectively. For a more detailed derivation of the
at the deformed and reference configurations can be material and spatial elasticity tensors for completely
expressed as incompressible or compressible hyperelastic materials and
their explicit expressions, see i.e. [24].
kmðx; tÞ ¼ FðX; tÞm0 ðXÞ k2 ¼ m0  FT F  m0
¼ m0  C  m0 ; ð2Þ 2.2. Anisotropic viscoelastic-damage approach
where m is the unit vector of the fiber in the deformed con-
In order to consider anisotropic viscoelastic-damage
figuration. The introduced kinematics for one family of fi-
effects, the free energy density can be rewritten as the aug-
bers can be applied to other fiber families in an analogous
mented free energy [33]:
manner. We shall denote a second preferred fiber direction
by the unit vector field n0 ðXÞ. WðC; M; N; Dk ; Qik Þ
To characterize isothermal processes, we postulate the " #
X X
N
existence of a unique decoupled representation of the ¼ W0vol ðJ Þ þ k  1
ð1  Dk ÞW ðC : Qik Þ
0
strain-energy density function W [45]. Based on the kine- k¼m;f1 ;f2
2 i¼1
matic description (1), the free energy can be written in !
X
N X
decoupled form for anisotropic materials as þN Qik ; ð8Þ
i¼1 k¼m;f1 ;f2

WðCÞ ¼ Wvol ðJ Þ þ WðC; M; NÞ; ð3Þ
where M ¼ m0  m0 and N ¼ n0  n0 are structural ten- where Qik may be interpreted as non-equilibrium stresses,

sors, Wvol ðJ Þ and WðC; M; NÞ are given scalar-valued func- in the sense of non-equilibrium thermodynamics [44]. Qim
tions of J, C, m0 and n0 , respectively, that describe the are the isotropic contribution due to the matrix material
volumetric and isochoric responses of the material [24]. associated to I 1 and I 2 invariants and Qif1 ; . . . ; Qif2 are
In terms of the strain invariants it can be written as [47] the anisotropic contribution due to the two families of fi-
bers associated to I 4 ; . . . ; I 9 invariants [32]. Finally,
 1 ðCÞ; I 2 ðCÞ; I 4 ðC; m0 Þ; I 5 ðC; m0 Þ;
W ¼ Wvol ðJ Þ þ WðI ð1  Dk Þ are known as the reduction factors [43], where
ð4Þ
I 6 ðC; n0 Þ; I 7 ðC; n0 Þ; I 8 ðC; m0 ; n0 Þ; I 9 ðm0 ; n0 ÞÞ the internal variables Dk 2 ½0; 1 are normalized scalars re-
ferred to as the damage variables for the matrix Dm and the
where I 1 and I 2 are the invariants of the tensor C, and the two families of fibers Df 1 and Df 2 , respectively [9].
pseudo-invariants I 4 ; . . . ; I 9 characterize the constitutive re- Standard arguments based on the Clausius–Duhem
sponse of the fibers: inequality Dint ¼ W _ þ 1 S : C_ P 0, lead to the represen-
2
I 4 ¼ C : M; I 5 ¼ C2 : M; tation

I 6 ¼ C : N; I 7 ¼ C2 : N; ð5Þ oWðC; M; N; Dk ; Qij Þ

S¼2
I 8 ¼ ðm0  n0 Þm0  Cn0 I 9 ¼ ðm0  n0 Þ
2 oC
2
¼ JpC1 þ J 3
While the invariants I 4 and I 6 have a clear physical mean- " #
ing, the square of the stretch k along the two fiber direc- X  0 ðC; M; NÞ X
oW N
 DEV 2 k  Qik
tions, the influence of I 5 , I 7 and I 8 is difficult to evaluate k¼m;f1 ;f2 oC i¼1
due to the high correlation between them. For this reason ( )
and the lack of sufficient experimental data it is usual not X XN
0 23
¼ Svol þ ð1  Dk ÞSk  J DEVQik ð9Þ
to include these invariants in the definition of W [47]. Final- k¼m;f1 ;f2 i¼1
ly, the invariant I 9 does not depend on the deformation, so
it has not to be considered. with W 0 ðk ¼ m; f1 ; f2 Þ being the contributions of the matrix
k
We now define the constitutive equation for compress- and two families of fibers, respectively, and fk conjugate
ible hyperelastic materials in the standard form state functions of the internal variables Dk according to
1986 E. Peña et al. / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 197 (2008) 1983–1996

 0 ðCÞ P 0; f f ¼ W
fm ¼ W  0 ðC; MÞ P 0; material state is known at a time tn and the deformation
m 1 f1
 0 ðC; NÞ P 0: is known at a time tnþ1 ¼ tn þ Dt with Dt > 0, we may write
ff ¼ W
2 f2 ð10Þ
2
Snþ1 ¼ J nþ1 pnþ1 C1
nþ1 þ J nþ1
3

The non-equilibrium second Piola Kirchhof stresses in (9), " !

Qik , are assumed to be governed by a set of linear rate X XN
 
 1 cik 1  DðkÞnþ1 S0ðkÞnþ1
equations [32] k¼m;f1 ;f2 i¼1
 0  #
N 
X n  o
_ 1 cik oWk ðC; M; NÞ 23 ðikÞ
Qik þ Qik ¼ ð1  Dk ÞDEV 2 ; lim þJ nþ1 cik DEV Hnþ1 ; ð17Þ
sik sik oC t!1
i¼1
Qik ¼ 0 ð11Þ ðikÞ
where Hnþ1 are internal algorithmic history variables de-
where cik 2 ½0; 1 are free energy factors associated with fined as
 
relaxation times sik > 0. ðikÞ Dtn ðikÞ
The evolution equation (11) are linear and, therefore, Hnþ1 ¼ exp Hn
sik
explicitly lead to the following convolution representation  
[32] Dtn n o
þ exp ð1  DðkÞnþ1 ÞS0ðkÞnþ1  ð1  DðkÞn ÞS0ðkÞn ;
Z t     0 2sij
c ðt  sÞ oW ð18Þ
Qik ðtÞ ¼ ik exp ð1  Dk ÞDEV 2 k ds:
sik 1 sik oC
where the subscripts n and n þ 1 denote quantities evalu-
ð12Þ
ated at times tn and tnþ1 [32,43].
Next, we assume that the damage mechanism is associated The consistent full Newton procedure to solve a non-lin-
to the distortional energy and is independent of the hydro- ear finite element problem requires the determination of the
static pressure. Therefore, we define a damage criterion in consistent tangent material operator. This can be derived
the strain space by the condition that, at any time t of analytically for the given material equation (7) getting the
the loading process, the following expression is fulfilled [43] symmetric algorithmic material tensor which is expressed
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi as
/k ðCðtÞ; Nkt Þ ¼ 2W  0 ðCðtÞÞ  Nkt ¼ Nk  Nkt 6 0 ð13Þ X h
k
Cnþ1 ¼ C0 þ 0
ð1  DðkÞnþ1 Þð1  ck þ mk ÞC
vol nþ1 ðkÞnþ1
with k¼m;f1 ;f2

qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 2 43 X N n h i
 0 ðCðsÞÞ;  J nþ1 cik DEV H e ðikÞ  C1
Nkt ¼ max 2W k ð14Þ 3 n nþ1
s2ð1;tÞ i¼1
h i  
þC1 e ðikÞ  H e ðikÞ : C
where CðsÞ is the modified right Cauchy–Green tensor at nþ1  DEV H n n
time s.
 
1 1 1 1 
The equation /k ðCðtÞ; Nkt Þ ¼ 0 defines a damage surface  IC nþ1  Cnþ1  Cnþ1  SðkÞnþ1 ; ð19Þ
in the strain space [9]. Finally, the evolution of the damage 3
parameters Dk is characterized by an irreversible equation where I1 1 1 1 1 1
C ¼  2 ðC ik C jl þ C il C jk Þ and
of evolution (
( g0ðkÞnþ1 S0ðkÞnþ1  S0ðkÞnþ1 if / ¼ 0 and Nk : C_ > 0
dDk hk ðNk ; Dk ÞN_ k if / ¼ 0 and Nm : C_ > 0
 SðkÞnþ1 ¼
¼ : 0 otherwise
dt 0 otherwise
ð20Þ
ð15Þ
and
Here Nm :¼ o/ oC
k
is the normal to the damage surface in the    
strain space, Nk are defined at the current time s and e ðikÞ Dtn ðikÞ Dtn
H n ¼ exp Hn  exp ð1  DðkÞn ÞS0ðkÞn ð21Þ

hk ðNk ; Dk Þ are given functions that characterize the damage sik 2sik
evolution in the material. In the case of  hk independent of Pn Pn
being ck ¼ i¼1 cik , mk ¼ i¼1 cik exp½Dt
2sik
n
.
Dk , the deviatoric part of the second Piola–Kirchoff stress
tensor may be expressed in the following form:
2.3. Weak form and linearized weak form of the continuum
 0 ðCðtÞÞ
oW problem in spatial description
 k ðtÞ ¼ gk ðNk Þ2
S k
ð16Þ
t
oC
The spatial version of the principle of virtual work is
with 
hk ðNk Þ ¼ d g0k .
gk ðNk Þ=dN ¼  written as
Algorithmically, this constitutive model can be evalu-
dW ðu; duÞ ¼ dW int ðu; duÞ þ dW ext ðu; duÞ; ð22Þ
ated via a simple recursion relation which was originally
developed for finite strains in [43]. In particular, if the where
 E. Peña et al. / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 197 (2008) 1983–1996 1987
Z
are several interpolation schemes based on the natural
dW int ðu; duÞ ¼ r : de dv ð23Þ
X neighbour concept. An extensive review of the method
can be found in [15].
being e ¼ 12 ðI  FT F1 Þ the Euler–Almansi strain tensor.
Z Z
dW ext ðu; duÞ ¼ qðb  € uÞ  du dv þ t  du ds: ð24Þ 3.1. Natural neighbour interpolation
X oXr
Several types of interpolations based on the natural
We shall consider a purely static problem, so that €u ¼ 0. In
neighbourhood scheme have been proposed, but all of
addition, we assume that the external loads (the body force
them rely on the construction of the Delaunay triangula-
b and the surface traction t) are ‘dead’ (independent of the
tion of a cloud of points and on its dual structure, the
deformation), so that the linearization of the external vir-
Voronoi diagram [16,52]. The Delaunay triangulation, or
tual work vanishes, i.e. DDu dW ext ðu; duÞ ¼ 0. Hence, the lin-
tetrahedrisation in the three-dimensional case, of a cloud
earization of the variational equation (22) only affects to
of points is a decomposition of the domain in triangles that
the internal virtual work dW int , which will be considered
verify the empty circumcircle criterion, that is, the circle
below. The idea is first to pull-back the spatial quantities
formed by the vertices of each triangle does not contains
to the reference configuration (internal virtual work in
any other point of the set.
the material description), then to linearize and to push-for-
For a given node nI , the associated Voronoi cell is com-
ward again. Starting with the equivalence pull-back
Z Z posed of all the points that are closer to the node nI than to
dW int ðu; duÞ ¼ rðuÞ : deðuÞdv ¼ SðEðuÞÞ any other node. Formally,
X X0
T I ¼ fx 2 R3 : dðx; xI Þ < dðx; xJ Þ 8 J 6¼ Ig; ð29Þ
: dEðuÞdV ð25Þ
where T I is the Voronoi cell and dð; Þ represents the
with E ¼ 12 ðFT F  IÞ the Green–Lagrange strain tensor, we Euclidean distance.
consider now the linearization of the internal virtual work The most used form of interpolation using the natural
in the material description neighbour scheme is due to [41,42]. Before presenting this
Z concept of ‘‘sibsonian” interpolation, it is necessary to
DDu dW int ðu; duÞ ¼ ½dEðuÞ : DDu SðEðuÞÞ þ SðEðuÞÞ introduce the second order Voronoi cell. It is defined as
X0
the locus of the points where the closest node is nI and
: DDu dEðuÞdV : ð26Þ the second closest node is nJ (see Fig. 1):
The first term corresponds to the material stiffness matrix T IJ ¼ fx 2 R3 : dðx; xI Þ < dðx; xJ Þ < dðx; xK Þ 8 J 6
and the second to the geometric part of the stiffness matrix.
¼ I 6¼ Kg: ð30Þ
Using (7) we can write
Z Thus, if a new node is added to a given cloud of points the
DDu dW int ðu; duÞ ¼ ½dEðuÞ : CðuÞ Voronoi cells will be altered. Sibson [41] defined the natural
X0
neighbour coordinates of a point x with respect to one of
: DDu EðuÞ þ SðEðuÞÞ : DDu dEðuÞdV : ð27Þ its neighbours I as the ratio of the cell T I that is transferred
Considering the push-forward operations, from (27) and to T x when adding x to the initial cloud of points to the to-
taking into account the relation dv ¼ J dV , the linearized tal area of T x . In other words, if jðxÞ and jI ðxÞ are the
virtual work in the spatial description may be written as Lebesgue measures of T x and T xI , respectively, the natural
[24] neighbour coordinates of x with respect to the node I are
Z
defined as
odua oDuc odua oDua
DDu dW int ðu; duÞ ¼ Cabcd þ rbd dv jI ðxÞ
X dxb dxd dxb dxd /I ðxÞ ¼ : ð31Þ
Z jðxÞ
odua oDuc
¼ ðCabcd þ dac rbd Þ dv:
X dxb dxd
ð28Þ
where ðC þ 1  rÞ represents the effective elasticity tensor
that includes the material and geometric parts of the con-
sistent tangent stiffness matrix.

3. Natural element implementation

The natural element method (NEM), also called natural

neighbour Galerkin method, can be considered as a mem-
ber of the family of meshless or meshfree methods. There Fig. 1. Delaunay triangulation and Voronoi diagram of a cloud of points.
1988 E. Peña et al. / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 197 (2008) 1983–1996

In Fig. 2 this relationship may be written as 3.2. Natural neighbour formulation

Aabfe
/5 ðxÞ ¼ : ð32Þ We introduce a natural neighbour approximation both
Aabcd
for the displacements, like in (33), and for the space of
It is straightforward to prove that the NE shape functions admissible variations
form a partition of unity.
In the context of solid mechanics and in the standard X
n
du ¼ /k duk ; duk 2 R3 ; ð34Þ
displacement method, the unknown variable is thus k¼1
approximated in the form:
Xn where /k are the shape functions defined in (32) and n is the
uh ðxÞ ¼ /I ðxÞuI ; ð33Þ number of natural neighbours of the point at which the
I¼1 approximate function is computed. This is a standard
where uI is the vector of nodal displacements and n the Galerkin approach.
number of natural neighbours of each point x. This leads Assuming that the solution at a configuration utn is
to a C 0 interpolation scheme. known at the pseudo-time increment tn , we look for the
The natural neighbour interpolation functions can be solution at tn þ 1, utn þ Dutnþ1 . The starting point is the con-
computed by means of the Watson’s algorithm [53], as in sistent linearization of the generalized displacement model
other previous works [48,50]. This algorithm is defined in at utn to get Dutnþ1 at time tnþ1 . The solution for Dutnþ1 is
two-dimensions and it fails when computing values at iteratively computed using a Newton approach
points lying at a Voronoi edge. In this work, and for the ðkþ1Þ
Dutðkþ1Þ ¼ DuðkÞ
tnþ1 þ DðDuÞtnþ1 ; ð35Þ
computation of the three-dimensional shape functions, we nþ1

preferred to use the algorithm proposed by Lasserre [28]. where DðDuÞðkþ1Þ are the displacement increments at the
This algorithm has been designed to compute volumes of iteration k þ 1 and represent the degrees of freedom of
polyhedra in Rn , and has been successfully applied in the linearized algebraic system
[7,13] to compute natural neighbour coordinates in the
NEM. A more extensive description of the main properties X
m
M ðkþ1Þ
of the natural neighbour interpolation can be found in ð KðuðkÞ ÞþG KðuðkÞ ÞÞij DðDuÞj
j¼1
[15,48,50].
ext
A modification of the natural neighbour interpolant was ¼ ð Fint FðuðkÞ ÞÞi i ¼ 1; . . . ; m; ð36Þ
proposed by [14] to achieve linear interpolation also over
non-convex boundaries. In meshless methods, it is desir- where the subscript n þ 1 has been omitted, m is the total
able not to employ an explicit definition of the boundary number of points of the problem, MK represents the mate-
of the domain, but only a cloud of points contained in rial part and GK the geometric part of the consistent tan-
the domain. It is possible to rigorously extract the shape gent stiffness matrix, as
of a set of points by invoking the concept of a-shape of XNt Z

the cloud [19]. In [14] the authors demonstrated that the

M
Kij ¼ BTi CBj J dV ð37Þ
t¼1 Xt
linear interpolation property over convex boundaries can Z
be extended to non-convex ones if the cloud of points X
Nt
G
Kij ¼ BTi rBj J dV ð38Þ
has an appropriate density to obtain enough detail to accu- Xt
t¼1
rately describe the boundary and if the natural neighbour-
hood is limited to the case in which two nodes belong to the with B defined in Simo and Taylor [45], Xt the volume of
same triangle (tetrahedron) in a certain a-complex. See [13] each tetrahedron of the Delaunay tetrahedrisation and N t
for more details on this topic. the total number of tetrahedra. Finally, the current config-
uration is updated after each iteration as:
utðkþ1Þ
nþ1
¼ uðkÞ ðkþ1Þ
tn þ Dutnþ1 : ð39Þ

4. Numerical examples

The natural element method outlined above has been

Fig. 2. Definition of the natural neighbour coordinates of a point x.
implemented in the general purpose finite element code
MYDAS. Here, some numerical examples for large defor-
mation problems of visco-hyperelastic fibrous materials are
presented to demonstrate the accuracy and possibilities of
the NEM to solve different problems with large strains.
In order to show the performance of the constitutive model
and the algorithmic counterpart some simple examples are
 E. Peña et al. / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 197 (2008) 1983–1996 1989

included, comparing the results with the ones of the finite Table 1
element method (FEM). A more complex three-dimen- Material, viscoelastic and damage parameters for the tension example
(kPa)
sional numerical application to ligament mechanics is also
presented. C1 C2 D
 m and 4.311 0.0 0.1070
The particular form of the deviatoric functions W 0
 f
W0 are defined in (40) [33], and the volumetric part of the cm sm
0.6 2.16
strain energy function is always stated as Wvol ¼ D1 ln2 J [24].
Nm Nm bm
 0 ¼ C 1 ðI 1  3Þ;
W min max
m 5 45 0.158
 0 ¼ C 3 ðexpC4 ðI 4 1Þ  C 4 ðI 4  1Þ  1Þ;
W f1
C4 ð40Þ
 0 ¼ C 5 ðexpC6 ðI 6 1Þ  C 6 ðI 6  1Þ  1Þ:
W
The Cauchy stress distributions at different load states
f2
C6 are shown in Fig. 4 until 750% of nominal strain. Damage
In all the examples presented next, the damage functions in for several load steps at different nominal strains is shown
(16) for the matrix and fibers correspond to the expressions in Fig. 5 in the deformed configuration. A maximal damage
[33] of 0.28 can be observed at 750% of nominal strain in a
8 broad central zone near the lateral boundaries. No damage
>
> 1 if Nkt < N0mink was predicted at 150% of nominal strain and at 300% the
<
gk ðNkt Þ ¼ 1  n2 ½1  bk ðn2  1Þ if N0mink 6 Nkt 6 N0maxk accumulated damage was only 0.035. It can be seen that
>
> during the earlier stages of the loading process, the maxi-
:0 if N > N0 kt maxk mum damage was detected near the four corners of the
ð41Þ plates. As the specimen progressively stretched, the maxi-
mum damage area moved gradually towards the center of
Nk t N0min
with n ¼ N0max N0min
k
a dimensionless variable and N0mink the the specimen and localized there.
k k In this example we have used different clouds of points
variables (13) associated to the strain energies at initial (21  21, 31  31, 41  41, 61  61 and 81  81 in each
damage for matrix and fibers, respectively, N0maxk the vari- plane) to study the convergence of the results, Fig. 6. The
ables (13) associated to the strain energy at total damage convergence is represented also in Fig. 7 where maximal
for matrix and fibers, being bk exponential parameters damage and Cauchy stress are presented versus the number
(see [9]). of points at two different stages of nominal strain, 300%
and 600%. A non-monotonical convergence is observed
4.1. Constrained tension example for all values. The maximal damage in the central zone
decreased with the number of nodes what is usual in local-
In this section we study a simple academic example ized damage problems.
the simulation of the constrained tension problem It is worth noting that in three of the five cases (21  21
defined in Fig. 3. Prescribed displacements were applied and 31  31 and 41  41) the deformed position of the
to the top rigid plate to deform the model up to a nom- nodes seems to reveal a certain type of instability. This
inal strain of 750%, while the bottom side remains fixed. may be due to the high confined deformation of the prob-
A three-dimensional formulation was employed to simu- lem in the external areas and the incompressibility of the
late this plane strain problem, so two layers of points material. This phenomenon is similar to the hourglass
with identical distribution were defined with a total of modes appearing in quadrilateral FE meshes. The highly
6724 points in each plane, and the out-of-plane displace- regular distribution of points and of the deformation can
ments were all constrained. A rubber-like material was aid to the propagation of this instability mode.
considered with the material parameters included in We have also compared the NEM results with the FEM
Table 1. ones. Hexahedral FE meshes were built with the same

Fig. 3. Problem statement for the tension test.

1990 E. Peña et al. / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 197 (2008) 1983–1996

Fig. 4. Cauchy stress distribution for different nominal strains.

Fig. 5. Damage distribution for different nominal strain.

number of nodes. Convergence failed for the denser meshes
at a nominal strain close to 300%. The 31  31 mesh is rep-
resented in Fig. 6a at 600% of nominal strain. Some differ-
ences were found between both solutions. FEM damage
resulted highly concentrated in the four corners, while in
the NEM case these peaks values were lower. The high
damaged central zone was similar for both FEM and
81  81 NEM models.
4.2. Cyclic stretching of a thin perforated square plate
This example presents the numerical simulation of a thin
perforated plate subjected to cyclic stretching along its lon-
gitudinal axis. The initial geometry, boundary conditions
and the cloud of 1313 nodes are depicted in Fig. 8. The ini-
tially square strip was stretched along the X direction while
the width was kept constant. Due to symmetry only one
quarter of the plate was considered in the numerical simu-
lation. Two families of fibers defined in the X and Y direc-
tion were considered. The thin plate was subjected to a
uniaxial displacement along the X direction.
The particular form of the deviatoric functions W m and
0
 f
W0 employed correspond to (40) and the damage functions
for the matrix and fibers were those given in (41). The
material and damage parameters are shown in Table 2.
Fig. 10 shows the Cauchy stress contours in the
deformed configuration after a monotonic stretch raising
up to k ¼ 3. The plots demonstrate the inhomogeneity near
E. Peña et al. / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 197 (2008) 1983–1996 1991

Fig. 6. Damage distribution at 600% using different clouds of points.

Fig. 7. Convergence of the results.

1992 E. Peña et al. / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 197 (2008) 1983–1996

Fig. 8. Thin perforated square plate. Geometry, boundary conditions and mesh.

Table 2 pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi the circular hole with damages of 0.11 and 0.14 in the
Material and damage parameters for the thin plate (MPa and MPa)
matrix and the fibers, respectively. No damage was pre-
C1 C3 C4 C5 C6 D
dicted for the second family of fibers along the Y direction.
2.01 0.5011 0.2199 0.5011 0.2199 0.0514
Damage localization occurred at the location where maxi-
cm sm cf1 sf1 mum fiber stress appeared, as shown in Figs. 9 and 10.
– – – –
For this example, also NEM and FEM results were
wmmin wmmax bm wfmin
1
wfmax
1
bf1 compared. In this case, damage appears highly concen-
2.5 7.5 0.158 1.4 4 0.158
trated in the upper edge of the hole (see Fig. 11). Both

Fig. 9. Deformed configuration and Cauchy stress distribution.

Fig. 10. Damage contours for the matrix and fibers with NEM.
 E. Peña et al. / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 197 (2008) 1983–1996 1993

Fig. 11. Damage contours for the matrix and fibers with FEM.

methods present similar results, and maximum damages in cruciate ligament (ACL) is the most frequent totally dis-
matrix and fibers and the damaged zone resulted very close rupted of all the knee ligaments [22].
in both approaches, although in the fibers, damage was A detailed model of the ACL is shown in Fig. 12 with
again more concentrated in FEM than in NEM. realistic tissue geometries. Cross-sectional contours were
manually digitized from nuclear magnetic resonance
(NMR) images and the curves imported into the commer-
4.3. Damage in a human ligament
cial code I-DEAS [20]. A total of 1704 points were used.
The ACL model was used to test fast strain rates. The elas-
A biomechanical application of the inelastic model using
tic, viscoelastic and damage parameters for the human
a NEM strategy is here discussed. Biomechanical problems
ACL were fitted from published experimental data
usually deal with complex geometries that are not defined
obtained by Arnoux et al. [5] and Pioletti et al. [37] and
by a standard CAD approach. A finite element meshing
are shown in Table 3. The fitted curve is shown in Fig. 13.
process can be very costly depending on the complexity
The commercial code ABAQUS and UMAT subrou-
of the geometry, but a volume reconstruction approach
tines were used in the finite element simulation of the same
and the definition of an adequate distribution of points
problem by the authors in [10]. The damage distributions in
inside this volume are relatively simple. Meshless methods
the matrix and the fibers at a displacement rate of
appear to be an alternative to FE for this type of problems.
The purpose of this simulation is to demonstrate the
capabilities of NEM to simulate the structural behavior
Table 3
of soft biological tissues. We reproduce the experiment ACL elastic, viscoelastic and damage material parameters (MPa)
developed by Calvo et al. [10] in a previous FE analysis.
C1 C2 C3 C4 D
That study was performed to determine the viscoelastic 1 0.0 0.4 8.1019 8.8e3
behavior of ligaments at different loading rates, such as
cm sm cf 1 sf 1
those associated with sports-related trauma. The anterior 0.31 0.15 0.69 5
wmmin wmmax bm wfmin wfmax bf
0.0946 1.0399 0.120 0.0427 2.5086 0.1538

Fig. 13. Stress–strain response of the human ACL at different displace-

Fig. 12. Point distribution in the human ACL. ment rates [33].
1994 E. Peña et al. / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 197 (2008) 1983–1996

Fig. 14. Damage in a human ACL at 8.467 mm/s with NEM.

Fig. 15. Damage in a human ACL at 8.467 mm/s with FEM [10].

8.467 mm/s are presented in Fig. 14. The resulting damage
in the matrix (0.2) was lower than in the fibers (0.3). The
peak values of the damage in matrix and fibers obtained
with finite elements were 0.26 and 0.42, respectively. Highly
concentrated damaged zones were detected due to the high
distortion of the deformed meshes especially near the liga-
ment insertions, see Fig. 15. Consequently, the stress distri-
butions obtained were not fully reliable in those regions.
On the contrary, the stress and damage distribution in
the NEM was smoother and the results more reliable, as
seen in Fig. 14. NEM seems to present better diffusive
properties than FEM in problems like this where local
damage is highly sensitive to stress gradients as shown in
[1].
5. Conclusions
The main objective of this work was to check the appli-
cability of the NEM to solve large strain inelastic problems
and specifically in applications to the biomechanics of soft
biological tissues. This family of methods present some
appealing features when compared to the well-known finite
element method [17]. They avoid the difficult task of mesh
generation in very complex geometries, such as the case of
living tissues. A finite element meshing process can be very
costly depending on the complexity of the geometry, but a
volume reconstruction approach and the definition of an
adequate distribution of points inside this volume are rela-
tively simple.
 E. Peña et al. / Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 197 (2008) 1983–1996
The examples here presented show that the NEM can be
applied to model three-dimensional numerical applications
with inelastic behavior. First, a three-dimensional simula-
tion of a constrained tension problem and the numerical
simulation of a thin perforated plate subjected to cyclic
stretching were presented. The convergence of the results
was studied and compared with FE strategies. Then, the
application to a more complex geometry like a three-
dimensional numerical modelling of a human ligament
mechanics was discussed. The numerical results here
obtained demonstrate that the NEM appears to be an effi-
cient alternative to FEM for large deformation problems
including inelastic phenomena.
Applications in living tissues usually involve geometric
non-linearities such us large displacements and strains, as
well as material non-linearities such as time-dependent
strain softening which lead to mesh distortions and mesh-
sensitivity problems. The NEM alternative is less sensitive
to ‘‘mesh” distortions, so the results are less dependent on
the regularity of the nodal distribution than in FEM [8].
NEM presents better diffusive properties than FEM, with
the stress peaks tending to be more concentrated in the lat-
ter, as reflected in the ACL example or in the constrained
tensile plate. Therefore, the NEM is a good choice to han-
dle large deformations problems and specifically to deal
with local damage problems, usually highly sensitive to
local stress gradients.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the research sup-
port from the European Community through STREP Pro-
ject IST-2004-27252-DeSSOS, the Spanish Ministry of
Science and Technology through the research Projects
DPI 2007-63254 and FIS 2005-05020-C03-03, and the
Spanish Ministry of Health through the research Projects
FIS PI06-0446.
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