Biomechanics: Mechanical Properties of Living Tissues

The motivation for writing aseries ofbooks on biomechanics is to bring this rapidly developing subject to students of bioengineering, physiology, and mechanics. In the last decade biomechanics has become a recognized disci pline offered in virtually all universities. Yet there is no adequate textbook for instruction; neither is there a treatise with sufficiently broad coverage. A few books bearing the title of biomechanics are too elementary, others are too specialized. I have long feIt a need for a set of books that will inform students of the physiological and medical applications of biomechanics, and at the same time develop their training in mechanics. We cannot assume that all students come to biomechanics already fully trained in fluid and solid mechanics; their knowledge in these subjects has to be developed as the course proceeds. The scheme adopted in the present series is as follows. First, some basic training in mechanics, to a level about equivalent to the first seven chapters of the author's A First Course in Continuum Mechanics (Prentice-Hall,lnc. 1977), is assumed. We then present some essential parts of biomechanics from the point of view of bioengineering, physiology, and medical applications. In the meantime, mechanics is developed through a sequence of problems and examples. The main text reads like physiology, while the exercises are planned like a mechanics textbook. The instructor may fil1 a dual role: teaching an essential branch of life science, and gradually developing the student's knowledge in mechanics.