Dynamic response of cross-linked random fiber networks

Systems composed of fibers are ubiquitous in the living and artificial systems, including cartilage, tendon, ligaments, paper, protective clothing, and packaging materials. Given the importance of fiber systems, their static behavior has been extensively studied and it has been shown that network deformation is nonaffine for compliant, low-density networks and affine for stiff, high-density networks. However, little is known about the dynamic response of fibrous systems. In this work, we investigate numerically the propagation of small-amplitude elastic waves in these materials and characterize their dynamic response as a function of network parameters.