An Experimental and Numerical Investigation Into the Deformation Profiles of Mock Arteries

Atherosclerosis is a chronic medical condition in which thickening and loss in the elasticity of the artery wall leads to impaired blood circulation[1]. Cholesterols and other proliferating cells accumulate at localized regions within the artery wall. This has the effect of stiffening and thickening the wall at that point. The presence of an emerging plaque should effect the deformation of and stresses generated within the artery wall sufficiently so to make it possible to detect this disease whilst still in its early stages. The hypothesis under investigation in this work is that an altered deformation profile, because of stiffening and thickening of the artery wall is an early indicator of the existence of this disease.