Realistic skeletal muscle deformation using finite element analysis

We present a computational model to simulate the skeletal muscle deformation during muscle contraction. This model includes a detailed description of the skeletal muscle architecture, non-linear properties of muscle tissue, novel features in the active muscle constitutive equations, and geometric constraints that can be enforced through Lagrange multipliers. The proposed muscle model predicts fibre forces based on the principle of virtual work, along with appropriate geometric constraints using a non-linear finite element analysis. This computational model introduces methods to produce realistic skeletal muscle deformation to be used in computer animation applications, and to study muscle function in biomechanical applications. Our model is sufficiently general to be applied in other non-linear soft tissues with different material properties. In order to exemplify its generality, the model is applied to different structural arrangements of individual skeletal muscles