Finite Difference Method for Mechanical Adaptation of Arteries to Sustained Hypertension

The dynamics of arterial wall remodelling under hypertensive conditions is discussed here. Sustained hypertension was simulated by a step increase in blood pressure. The arterial wall was considered to be a thick walled tube made of non linear elastic incompressible material the driving stimuli for the geometric adaptation are the normalized deviations of wall stresses from their values under normotensive conditions. Meachanical adaption is driven by the difference between the area compliance under hypertensive and normotensive conditions. The predicted time course of the geometry and mechanical properties of arterial wall are in good qualititative agreement with published findings. Crank Nicolson finite difference scheme is used for computation purpose which is fast conversing in comparision to the method used by Rachev et al (1998).