Title: Influence of surrounding tissues on biomechanics of aortic wall

Authors: Jungsil Kim; Brooke Peruski; Chris Hunley; Sebastian Kwon; Seungik Baek

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824-1224, USA ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824-1224, USA ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824-1224, USA ' Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218-2608, USA ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Michigan State University, 2457 Engineering Building, East Lansing, MI 48824-1226, USA

Abstract: The present study investigates effects of surrounding tissues and non-uniform wall thickness on the biomechanics of the thoracic aorta. We construct two idealised computational models exemplifying the importance of surrounding tissues and non-uniform wall thickness, namely the uniform thickness model and the histology image-based model. While the former neglects a connective tissue layer surrounding the aorta, the latter takes it into account with non-uniform wall thickness. Using plane strain finite element analysis, stress distributions in the aortic media between the two models are compared. The histology image-based model substantially enhances the uniformity of stress throughout the aortic media. Furthermore, the altered mechanical properties of surrounding tissues change the stress distribution. These results suggest that surrounding tissues and non-uniform wall thickness should be included in biomechanical analysis to better understand regional adaptation of the aortic wall during normal physiological conditions or pathological conditions such as aortic aneurysms and dissections.

Keywords: perivascular tissue; adipose tissue; vascular mechanical homeostasis; aortic dissection; surrounding tissues; biomechanics; aortic wall; wall thickness; thoracic aorta; modelling; plane strain FEA; finite element analysis; stress distribution; aortic aneurysms; histology image based models.

DOI: 10.1504/IJECB.2013.056516

International Journal of Experimental and Computational Biomechanics, 2013 Vol.2 No.2, pp.105 - 117

Published online: 12 Jul 2014 *

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