A rat muscle finite-element model to account for transverse loading effects
Résumé
Previously reported experimental results on single rat Gastrocnemius Medialis (GM) muscles showed a macroscopic coupling between applied external transversal loads and force generation: activation generated transversal bulging, while increasing the transverse load tended to concurrently reduce the axial contraction force of the muscle. The availability of these experimental results offered the possibility to explore the influence of fibre orientation on this coupling numerically.