Aortic Stress Concentration

The goal of this project is to analyze stress concentration in the walls of the aorta/arteries around the ostia of branches, using a method of finite element analysis.

The stress produced by the luminal pressure is not uniformly distributed in the aorta. The ostia of branches have much greater wall stress than the rest of the aorta. This stress concentration correlates well with the localization of atherosclerotic plaques in the aorta/arteries.

The research also includes exploration of various mechanisms of atherosclerosis.