Electromechanical modeling of anisotropic cardiac tissues

Abstract

We model cardiac muscle contractions in the framework of finite elasticity with large distortions and couple a mechanical model with reaction–diffusion equations representing electrophysiological activity. Both models are implemented using anisotropic constitutive relations: we use stress–strain relations for fiber-reinforced materials, and anisotropic diffusion tensors for both the membrane potential and calcium ions. The effects of these choices on the electromechanical behavior are presented and discussed.