Soft collagenous tissue features many hierarchies of structure, starting from tropocollagen molecules that form fibrils, and
proceeding to a bundle of fibrils that form fibers. Here we report the development of an atomistically informed continuum
model of collagenous tissue. Results from full atomistic and molecular modeling are linked with a continuum theory of a fiber-reinforced
composite, handshaking the fibril scale to the fiber and continuum scale in a hierarchical multi-scale simulation approach.
Our model enables us to study the continuum-level response of the tissue as a function of cross-link density, making a link
between nanoscale collagen features and material properties at larger tissue scales. The results illustrate a strong dependence
of the continuum response as a function of nanoscopic structural features, providing evidence for the notion that the molecular
basis for protein materials is important in defining their larger-scale mechanical properties.
Keywords Multi-scale model - Collagen - Soft tissue - Molecular mechanics - Continuum - Finite element - Deformation - Failure - Mechanical properties