A model for compression-weakening materials and the elastic fields due to contractile cells

We construct a homogeneous, nonlinear elastic constitutive law that models aspects of the mechanical behavior of inhomogeneous fibrin networks. Fibers in such networks buckle when in compression. We model this as a loss of stiffness in compression in the stress–strain relations of the homogeneous constitutive model. Problems that model a contracting biological cell in a finite matrix are solved. It is found that matrix displacements and stresses induced by cell contraction decay slower (with distance from the cell) in a compression weakening material than linear elasticity would predict. This points toward a mechanism for long-range cell mechanosensing. In contrast, an expanding cell would induce displacements that decay faster than in a linear elastic matrix.