Analysis of Cavitation in Human Iliac Arterial Tissue

Iliac Artery Aneurysm (IAA) rupture is a critical issue affecting a large population worldwide. The rupture of IAA is accompanied by the disintegration of the tissue and the appearance of micro-voids in the tissue. These micro-voids gradually enlarge, progressively weakening the structural integrity of the arterial wall until it fails, resulting in a rupture. Previous studies have considered the isotropic hyper-elastic nature of the tissue to analyse the cavitation in aneurysmatic tissue. However, it shows anisotropic behaviour. Therefore, it becomes imperative to investigate the growth of voids within the tissue while considering its anisotropic nature. In the study, micro-voids under hydrostatic tension have been analysed using numerical simulation in ABAQUS. The experimentally calibrated material parameter for Gasser-Ogden-Holzapfel (GOH) is used to capture the complex behaviour of aneurysmatic tissue. This study deals with the analysis of void growth and cavitation in anisotropic iliac arterial tissue.