Mechanics of Soft Materials - Tufts University

200 Boston Avenue, Suite 2100, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155 | Phone: (617) 627-6137 | Fax: (617) 627-3994

Research: Biomechanics of Soft Tissues

Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA)

The primary aim of this multidisciplinary research is to develop an integrated approach to analyze abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) biomechanics, wall stress development and rupture risk for single patients. The transformative impact is that all steps of the analysis will be fully based on information exclusively derived from that patient, including lesion shape, wall material properties, experimentally measured flow field characteristics and wall pressure, and wall stress computation.

The proposed studies represent an integrated, interdisciplinary approach blending biomaterials science with medical imaging and biomechanics in a combined experimental-computational protocol. Establishment of a methodology for accurate assessment of AAA wall stress with physiologically derived loading has the potential to significantly impact clinical AAA management, and to save millions of dollars just through avoided unnecessary surgeries.

Max Principal Stress Distributions for Non-Uniform, Systolic Loading Conditions

Maximum principal stress (kPa) for the whole abdominal aortic aneurysm model.

Maximum principal stress (kPa) for half the abdominal aortic aneurysm model with the scale adjusted to exclude stress concentrations at each fixed end.

Publications:

Dorfmann A., Wilson C., Edgar E.S., Peattie R.A.: Evaluating Patient-Specific Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Wall Stress Based on Flow-Induced Loading, Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology 9 (2010), 127-139.

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