Establishing constitutive relationships for soft biological tissues

Summary form only given. An algorithm is presented by which stress-strain relationships, or constitutive equations, for various soft tissues may be developed, and some of the pitfalls affecting the process are discussed. These concepts are illustrated using the lung as an example. Four elements are required for analysis of the deformation of a body: (1) the geometry of the body in question, (2) a relationship between stress and strain for the material of which the body is composed, (3) the set of external forces applied to the body, and (4) an equation of motion relating those forces to the resulting motion or deformation.< >