Fiber network mechanics is a subject within

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

and

mechanics Mechanics (from Ancient Greek: μηχανική, ''mēkhanikḗ'', "of machines") is the area of mathematics and physics concerned with the relationships between force, matter, and motion among physical objects. Forces applied to objects r ...

that deals with the deformation of networks made by the connection of slender fibers,. Fiber networks are used to model the mechanics of fibrous materials such as

biopolymer Biopolymers are natural polymers produced by the cells of living organisms. Like other polymers, biopolymers consist of monomeric units that are covalently bonded in chains to form larger molecules. There are three main classes of biopolymers, cl ...

networks and

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, rags, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre evenly distributed ...

products. Depending on the mechanical behavior of individual filaments, the networks may be composed of mechanical elements such as Hookean springs, Euler-Bernoulli beams, and worm-like chains. The field of fiber network mechanics is closely related to the mechanical analysis of frame structures,

granular material A granular material is a conglomeration of discrete solid, macroscopic particles characterized by a loss of energy whenever the particles interact (the most common example would be friction when grains collide). The constituents that compose gra ...

critical phenomena In physics, critical phenomena is the collective name associated with the physics of critical points. Most of them stem from the divergence of the correlation length, but also the dynamics slows down. Critical phenomena include scaling relations ...

, and lattice dynamics.

References

Biophysics Solid mechanics {{biophysics-stub