Passive mechanical properties of ovine rumen tissue

Mechanical and structural properties of ovine rumen tissue have been determined using uniaxial tensile testing of tissue from four animals at five rumen locations and two orientations. Animal and orientation did not have a significant effect on the stress-strain response, but there was a significant difference between rumen locations. Histological studies showed two orthogonal muscle layers in all regions except the reticulum, which has a more isotropic structure. A quasi-linear viscoelastic model was fitted to the relaxation stage for each region. Model predictions of the ramp stage had RMS errors of 13-24% and were within the range of the experimental data.