Numerical simulation of residual stresses in arterial walls

A method for the numerical simulation of residual stresses occurring in arterial walls without blood pressure is proposed. It is quite well established in the literature that a sliced artery may be considered as a “stress-free” reference configuration, in some sense. In order to close the gap between the opened transmural surfaces of a sliced artery, a displacement-driven procedure is applied which is formulated in the relative displacement of associated nodal points, similar as in the framework of interface elements. Subsequently, a new mesh is considered, representing the eigenstress state without these interface elements. This is advantageous for further numerical simulations as e.g., applying an internal pressure. Finally, the proposed method is applied to an atherosclerotic artery in order to provide a numerical example for the simulation of residual stresses in arteries.