EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON THE CIRCUMFERENTIAL RESIDUAL STRAINS IN AORTIC ARCH BASED ON CURVE LENGTH METHOD

In order to quantify residual strains in aortic arch, curve length method and corresponding computerized measurement of vessel images are presented. Distributions of geometric parameters and circumferential residual strains in rabbit aortic arch have been investigated. Subsequently, circumferential residual strains of aortic arch in the zero-stress state were calculated. As results of the experiment and calculation, axial distribution of residual strains in inner or outer walls along aortic arch is consistent well with the opening angle distribution, in which the variation magnitude is much smaller in the straight section than in the curved section. Simultaneously, not only the opening angle but also residual strains aren’t the function of circumferential coordinate θ, which means that circumferential distributions of the opening angle and residual strains are uniform. Furthermore, radial distribution of circumferential residual strains is nonlinear, and the radial gradient minimizes at the arch of aorta approximately.