The purpose of this research is to develop a realistic time- dependent mechanical model of collagenous chains in ligaments, based on the measured mechanical response of a larger segment of a ligament, that can be used to develop global models for many different ligament morphologies. The mechanical behavior of the collagenous chain will be described by nonlinear viscoelastic models, and a computer program, that incorporates these material models and global ligament geometry, will be written to predict overall ligament behavior. This tool can be used to develop synthetic polymers that mimic ligaments, thereby contributing to the field of biomimetrics.
