An elasto-plastic model to analyse the biomechanical behaviour of the atherosclerotic plaque tissue

This work, using meshless methods, analyses numerically the elasto-plastic response of human atherosclerotic plaque tissue. The meshless method used in this work is the Natural Neighbour Radial Point Interpolation Method (NNRPIM). In the literature, it is possible to find research works regarding the mechanical characterization of the human atherosclerotic plaque tissue. As the literature shows, it is possible to represent the nonlinear behaviour of such soft tissue using a classic “linear elastic - linear plastic” inelastic model. Here, experimental tests are numerically reproduced and a numerical model of an artery with atherosclerotic plaque tissue is analysed. The results clearly show the importance of the inclusion of an elasto-plastic model for the atherosclerotic plaque tissue.