A fully implicit finite element method for bidomain models of cardiac electromechanics

► Cardiac contraction is initiated by smoothly propagating excitation waves. ► Existing models solve this excitation-contraction coupling in a staggered sense. ► Here we propose a monolithic, fully implicit excitation-contraction algorithm. ► We represent excitation using the bidomain model of electrophysiology. ► Our model accurately predicts excitation and contraction in an idealized heart.