Effective-medium theory of a filamentous triangular lattice

We present an effective-medium theory that includes bending as well as stretching forces, and we use it to calculate the mechanical response of a diluted filamentous triangular lattice. In this lattice, bonds are central-force springs, and there are bending forces between neighboring bonds on the same filament. We investigate the diluted lattice in which each bond is present with a probability p. We find a rigidity threshold pb which has the same value for all positive bending rigidity and a crossover characterizing bending, stretching, and bend-stretch coupled elastic regimes controlled by the central-force rigidity percolation point at pCF≃2/3 of the lattice when fiber bending rigidity vanishes.