TY - EJOU AU - Maceri, F. AU - Marino, M. AU - Vairo, G. TI - Elasto-Damage Modeling of Biopolymer Molecules Response T2 - Computer Modeling in Engineering \& Sciences PY - 2012 VL - 87 IS - 5 SN - 1526-1506 AB - The mechanical behavior of biopolymer mo -le -cu -les is herein addressed and a novel predictive model for their elasto-damage response is proposed. Both entropic and energetic elastic mechanisms are accounted for, and coupled by consistent equilibrium conditions. Moreover, through non-smooth mechanics arguments, molecular damage is modeled accounting for failure due to both mechanical and non-mechanical damage sources. The model is applied to collagen molecules and an excellent agreement with available experimental tests and atomistic computations is shown. The proposed predictive theory can be usefully integrated in hierarchical models of biological structures towards a multiscale continuum approach. KW - Elasto-damage models KW - Biopolymer molecules KW - Entropic and energetic elasticity KW - Non-smooth mechanics KW - Hierarchical multiscale modeling KW - Tro -po -col -la -gen molecules DO - 10.3970/cmes.2012.087.461