An elastic, plastic, viscous model for slow shear of a liquid foam

We suggest a scalar model for deformation and flow of an amorphous material such as a foam or an emulsion. To describe elastic, plastic and viscous behaviours, we use three scalar variables: elastic deformation, plastic deformation rate and total deformation rate; and three material specific parameters: shear modulus, yield deformation and viscosity. We obtain equations valid for different types of deformations and flows slower than the relaxation rate towards mechanical equilibrium. In particular, they are valid both in transient or steady flow regimes, even at large elastic deformation. We discuss why viscosity can be relevant even in this slow shear (often called "quasi-static") limit. Predictions of the storage and loss moduli agree with the experimental literature, and explain with simple arguments the non-linear large amplitude trends

Geometry can provide long-range mechanical guidance for embryogenesis

Downstream of gene expression, effectors such as the actomyosin contractile machinery drive embryo morphogenesis. During $\textit{Drosophila}$ embryonic axis extension, actomyosin has a specific planar-polarised organisation, which is responsible for oriented cell intercalation. In addition to these cell rearrangements, cell shape changes also contribute to tissue deformation. While cell-autonomous dynamics are well described, understanding the tissue-scale behaviour challenges us to solve the corresponding mechanical problem at the scale of the whole embryo, since mechanical resistance of all neighbouring epithelia will feedback on individual cells. Here we propose a novel numerical approach to compute the whole-embryo dynamics of the actomyosin-rich apical epithelial surface. We input in the model specific patterns of actomyosin contractility, such as the planar-polarisation of actomyosin in defined ventro-lateral regions of the embryo. Tissue strain rates and displacements are then predicted over the whole embryo surface according to the global balance of stresses and the material behaviour of the epithelium. Epithelia are modelled using a rheological law that relates the rate of deformation to the local stresses and actomyosin anisotropic contractility. Predicted flow patterns are consistent with the cell flows observed when imaging $\textit{Drosophila}$ axis extension $\textit{in toto}$, using light sheet microscopy. The agreement between model and experimental data indicates that the anisotropic contractility of planar-polarised actomyosin in the ventro-lateral germband tissue can directly cause the tissue-scale deformations of the whole embryo. The three-dimensional mechanical balance is dependent on the geometry of the embryo, whose curved surface is taken into account in the simulations. Importantly, we find that to reproduce experimental flows, the model requires the presence of the cephalic furrow, a fold located anteriorly of the extending tissues. The presence of this geometric feature, through the global mechanical balance, guides the flow and orients extension towards the posterior end.All the computations presented in this paper were performed using the Cactus platform of the CIMENT infrastructure (https://ciment.ujf-grenoble.fr), which is supported by Région Rhône-Alpes (GRANT CPER07-13, http://en.rhonealpes.fr/370-the-quality-of-the-research.htm). MD, PS and JE thank Région Rhône-Alpes (CIBLE and IXXI, all authors; CMIRA, JE only), MD thanks Malian government and French embassy in Bamako "Bourse d’Excellences" programme, LIPHY and LJK (CNRS and Univ. Grenoble Alpes) for financial support. MD and JE thank ANR-12-BS09-0020-01 "Transmig" and ANR-11-LABX-0030 "Tec21", and are members of GDR 3570 MecaBio and GDR 3070 CellTiss of CNRS. JE thanks the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences for its hospitality during the programme "Coupling Geometric PDEs with Physics for Cell Morphology, Motility and Pattern Formation" supported by EPSRC Grant Number EP/K032208/1. CML, GBB and BS were supported by Wellcome Trust Investigator Award 099234/Z/12/Z to BS

Colloquium: Mechanical formalisms for tissue dynamics

The understanding of morphogenesis in living organisms has been renewed by tremendous progressin experimental techniques that provide access to cell-scale, quantitative information both on theshapes of cells within tissues and on the genes being expressed. This information suggests that ourunderstanding of the respective contributions of gene expression and mechanics, and of their crucialentanglement, will soon leap forward. Biomechanics increasingly benefits from models, which assistthe design and interpretation of experiments, point out the main ingredients and assumptions, andultimately lead to predictions. The newly accessible local information thus calls for a reflectionon how to select suitable classes of mechanical models. We review both mechanical ingredientssuggested by the current knowledge of tissue behaviour, and modelling methods that can helpgenerate a rheological diagram or a constitutive equation. We distinguish cell scale ("intra-cell")and tissue scale ("inter-cell") contributions. We recall the mathematical framework developpedfor continuum materials and explain how to transform a constitutive equation into a set of partialdifferential equations amenable to numerical resolution. We show that when plastic behaviour isrelevant, the dissipation function formalism appears appropriate to generate constitutive equations;its variational nature facilitates numerical implementation, and we discuss adaptations needed in thecase of large deformations. The present article gathers theoretical methods that can readily enhancethe significance of the data to be extracted from recent or future high throughput biomechanicalexperiments.Comment: 33 pages, 20 figures. This version (26 Sept. 2015) contains a few corrections to the published version, all in Appendix D.2 devoted to large deformation

Flow of foam through a convergent channel

International audienceWe study experimentally the flow of a foam confined as a bubble monolayer between two plates through a convergent channel. We quantify the velocity, the distribution and orientation of plastic events, and the elastic stress, using image analysis. We use two different soap solutions: a sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) solution, with a negligible wall friction between the bubbles and the confining plates, and a mixture containing a fatty acid, giving a large wall friction. We show that for SDS solutions, the velocity profile obeys a self-similar form which results from the superposition of plastic events, and the elastic deformation is uniform. For the other solution, the velocity field differs and the elastic deformation increases towards the exit of the channel. We discuss and quantify the role of wall friction on the velocity profile, the elastic deformation, and the rate of plastic events