Wei Zhang1,2, Carly Herrera1, Satya N. Atluri1, Ghassan S. Kassab2,3
Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.2, No.1, pp. 41-52, 2005, DOI:10.3970/mcb.2005.002.041
Abstract It is well known that blood vessels shorten axially when excised. This is due to the perivascular tethering constraint by side branches and the existence of pre-stretch of blood vessels at the \textit {in situ} state. Furthermore, vessels are radially constrained to various extents by the surrounding tissues at physiological loading. Our hypothesis is that the axial pre-stretch and radial constraint by the surrounding tissue homogenizes the stress and strain distributions in the vessel wall. A finite element analysis of porcine coronary artery and rabbit thoracic aorta based on measured material properties, geometry, residual strain More >