title: Finite element analysis of left ventricle during cardiac cycles in viscoelasticity.
abstract: To investigate the effect of myocardial viscoeslasticity on heart function, this paper presents a finite element model based on a hyper-viscoelastic model for the passive myocardium and Hill's three-element model for the active contraction. The hyper-viscoelastic model considers the myocardium microstructure, while the active model is phenomenologically based on the combination of Hill's equation for the steady tetanized contraction and the specific time-length-force property of the myocardial muscle. To validate the finite element model, the end-diastole strains and the end-systole strain predicted by the model are compared with the experimental values in the literature. It is found that the proposed model not only can estimate well the pumping function of the heart, but also predicts the transverse shear strains. The finite element model is also applied to analyze the influence of viscoelasticity on the residual stresses in the myocardium.
authors.affiliation: School of Automation, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications Nanjing, Jiangsu 210023, China. Electronic address: jingjinshen@qq.com.
authors.forename: Jing Jin
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: School of Automation, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications Nanjing, Jiangsu 210023, China.
authors.forename: Feng Yu
authors.initials: FY
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics Nanjing, Jiangsu 210016, China.
authors.forename: Wen An
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D004548:Elasticity; D020342:Finite Element Analysis; D006801:Humans; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D009200:Myocardial Contraction / Q000502:physiology*; D009206:Myocardium
keywords: Active contraction; Finite element analysis; Hill's equation; Viscoelasticity