A 3-D FINITE-ELEMENT MODEL OF BLOOD-PERFUSED RAT GASTROCNEMIUS MEDIALIS MUSCLE

A finite element description of blood perfusion has been developed, an d is applied to skeletal muscles. Three-dimensional distributions of b lood pressures and flows in deforming muscles are calculated. The musc le tissue is considered as a fluid-saturated porous solid. The blood i s modeled as a series of five intercommunicating compartmental fluids, representing arterial, arteriolar, capillary, venular and venous bloo d, that reside in the pores (blood vessels) of the muscle tissue. The blood vessels are modeled as distensible tubes, embedded in the muscle tissue. A 3-D finite element mesh has been mapped on a reconstructed geometry of a gastrocnemius medialis muscle of the rat. Blood perfused linear elastic muscle material behaviour has been assigned to this me sh. A simulation of blood perfusion, resulting from a constant arterio -venous pressure difference, through the reconstructed muscle has been performed. Calculated blood pressure and flow distributions were with in physiological range.