Figure 1.

A microscale network model was used to simulate the response of collagen-agarose soft tissue analogs. (A) Representative dog-bone shaped collagen gel tested experimentally³⁵ and scanning electron micrograph showing the reconstituted collagen network. (B) Computational networks were generated by randomly placing seed points within a representative volume element (RVE), generating a Voronoi tessellation about those seed points, and placing pin joint nodes at each fiber-fiber connection (schematic shows 2D network for clarity; actual Voronoi networks were 3D). (C) Collagen-agarose co-gels were modeled by adding the contributions from the collagen network and the non-fibrillar matrix in parallel.