Events

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UK Hydrogels Network online seminar: Laura Miller, University of Strathclyde
Regular seminar series · Thursday 3rd July 2025, 14:00 BST, recorded and available on YouTube
Micromechanical analysis of the effective stiffness of poroelastic composites and its application to myocardial infarction 

Within this work we investigate the role that the microstructure of a poroelastic material has on the resulting elastic parameters. We are considering the effect that multiple elastic and fluid phases at the same scale (LMRP model (L. Miller and R. Penta, 2020)) have on the estimation of the materials elastic parameters when compared with a standard poroelastic approach. We present a summary of both the LMRP model and the comparable standard poroelastic approach both derived via the asymptotic homogenization approach. We provide the 3D periodic cell problems with associated boundary loads that are required to be solved to obtain the effective elasticity tensor for both model setups. We then perform a 2D reduction of the cell problems, again presenting the 2D boundary loads that are required to solve the problems numerically. The results of our numerical simulations show that whenever investigating a poroelastic composite material with porosity exceeding 5% then the LMRP model should be considered more appropriate in incorporating the structural details in the Young’s moduli and the shear than a standard poroelastic approach.  We then provide an investigation of how physiologically observed microstructural changes induced by myocardial infarction impact the elastic parameters of the heart.  

UK Hydrogels Network online seminar: Amir Hossein Namdar, University of Manchester
Regular seminar series · Tuesday 20th May 2025, 14:00 BST, recorded and available on YouTube
Study of the percolation and mechanics of stochastic fibre networks; a model for peptide hydrogels

The structures of fibre networks can vary greatly due to fibre interactions during formation. We have modified the steps of generating Mikado networks to create two new model classes by altering the spatial distribution and relative orientation of their fibres to mimic the structures of self-assembling peptide hydrogels (SAPHs), whose physical properties depend strongly on their fibres’ interactions. The results of our models and experiments on a set of beta-sheet forming SAPHs show that modifying a network’s structure affects the percolation threshold and the mechanical behaviour of the material, both near percolation and at higher densities.