Morpho-elasticity The mechanics and mathematics of biological growth

Growth plays a fundamental role in many biological processes and is considered to be the hallmark of life itself. It is a process of extreme complexity and its description has been one of the fundamental problems of life sciences. However, until recently, it has not attracted much attention from mathematicians, physicists, and mechanicians.

The goal of this monograph is to present the state of knowledge in the mechanics of growth, to provide a rigorous foundation and, to offer a set of mathematical tools for the analysis of specific problems arising in biology accessible to mathematicians, physicists, and biologists. Simple examples, applications and building discussions are included.

The emphasis of the book is on the kinematics and mechanics of growth. Accordingly, the three first parts of the book are: Growth of curves and lamentary structure, Growth of surfaces, membranes, and shells, and Volumetric growth.