Study of stress concentration in the walls of the bovine coronary arterial branch.

The intramural stress concentration in the arterial wall is studied at the bovine circumflex coronary arterial branch. The material properties, geometry, and strains in the arterial branch are determined from experiments. The stresses are determined using a finite element analysis. The arterial branch is modeled as two interesecting thin cylindrical shells incorporating local variations in the branch geometry, thickness, and material properties. The artery is considered orthotropic and loaded with an incremental pressure of 40 mmHg. The highest intramural stresses are found to be localized at the proximal and distal regions of the ostium and are not significantly affected by the elastic properties. The stresses are 3 to 4 times greater in the branch at the inner surface than in the straight segment. The strains are twice as large at the branch than in the straight segment. We speculate that this stress concentration could injure the artery and make the branch region susceptible to atherosclerosis.