ALTERNATE METHOD FOR THE ANALYSIS OF RESIDUAL STRAIN IN THE ARTERIAL-WALL

If an artery is cut transversely into rings, and the rings are then cu t radially, they spring open into sectors, This phenomenon implies the existence of residual stresses and strains in the arterial wall in th e non-loaded state, In the present paper, we propose a new method to c alculate the residual strain from the measured wall dimensions and a p olar angle of a specimen in the stress-free state, assuming that the w all is homogeneous and incompressible, and that a radially cut, stress -free specimen forms a circular sector, For this analysis, edge angles were measured at the edges of the opened-up specimen, Residual strain s were obtained for the descending thoracic aorta, the common carotid artery, and the femoral artery in the rabbit, The results obtained ind icated that the magnitude of residual strain was largest in the femora l artery and smallest in the aorta among the three arteries, The openi ng angle did not depend upon the length of a ring specimen if the rati o of the length to the diameter was less than or equal to 3. Copyright (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.