Constitutive Modeling of Biaxial Mechanical Response of Arteries Subjected to Gradual Elastin Degradation

The passive mechanical response of arteries is believed to be mainly dominated by elastin and collagen fibers. Many arterial diseases are accompanied by significant changes in quantity and as well as the microstructure of these constituents due to the mechanical and biological adaptive processes. In this study we focus on the biaxial tensile test data of elastase-treated porcine aortic tissues [1]. We study the mechanical behavior of aortic tissues under gradual elastin degradation through constitutive modeling and associate the mechanical response with the microstructure of collagen observed in the microscopic images of fresh and digested tissues.