Experimental study and constitutive modelling of the passive mechanical properties of the ovine infrarenal vena cava tissue

The passive mechanical properties of the ovine infrarenal vena cava are analysed in this paper. In vivo stretch from 15 venae was measured in order to get data from the physiological situation before harvesting the vessel. Vena cava strips (n=64) both in longitudinal and circumferential directions were cut and subjected to simple tension tests. Results showed the strongly marked anisotropic character of the caval tissue. The maximal stretch ranges reached in both directions were very different, with the longitudinal range being much higher than the circumferential range in all cases. Three anisotropic constitutive models were used to fit the data obtained from the experiments. Advantages and drawbacks of each of these models are also discussed.