Course detail
Biomechanics III - Cardiovascular
FSI-RBM Acad. year: 2026/2027 Winter semester
The course starts with basic medical information on structure of cardiovascular system. It deals with loads and mechanical properties of its organs and tissues, including blood and its rheological properties. Properties of tissues are analysed in relation to their structure, from layers and fibres to the level of individual cells, their structure and mechanical behaviour. The course further presents most frequent pathologies of cardio-vascular system, especially atherosclerosis and its dependence on mechanical factors. All the gained knowledge is applied in computational models of isolated cell, artery and heart chamber, created in ANSYS software, not only in stress-strain analyses but also in fluid-structure interactions between a tissue and a liquid (blood).
Further, the course deals with technical fundamentals of therapeutic treatments and man-made replacements used at cardio-vascular system (vascular grafts, arterial stents, artificial heart valves, artificial heart pumps). The course deals with their technical principles, materials, production technology and basic requirements of biocompatibility.
Language of instruction
Czech
Number of ECTS credits
6
Supervisor
Entry knowledge
Knowledge of basic terms of theory of elasticity and selected theories in the range of the course 5PP-A (stress, strain, general Hooke's law, membrane theory of shells, thick-wall cylindrical vessel). Description of mechanical properties of materials under large strains using hyperelastic constitutive models including anisotropic ones. Basic properties of Newtonian liquids (viscosity), theory of linear viscoelasticity. Fundamentals of FEM and basic handling of ANSYS system.
Rules for evaluation and completion of the course
Active participation in seminars, final project and its defence, test of basic theoretical knowledge.
Attendance at practical training is obligatory. An apologized absence can be compensed by individual projects controlled by the tutor.
Aims
The aim of the course is to provide basic general knowledge about properties of tissues in cardiovascular system and analyze in detail impact of their structure on mechanical behaviour. Students should get acquainted with computational models of heart and blood vessels at the level corresponding to the actual state of science and capabilites of the existing software. They also get familiar with treatments and implants applied in the cardio-vascular system and principles of their function and design.
Students will have a clear idea of basic biomechanical problems of cardiovascular system and of the implants used in it. They will be able to model these problems at the actual level of scientific knowledge and of technological equipment.
The study programmes with the given course
Programme N-IMB-P: Engineering Mechanics and Biomechanics, Master's
specialization BIO: Biomechanics, compulsory
Type of course unit
Lecture
26 hours, optionally
Syllabus
1. Introduction, contents of the course, mechanical properties of soft biological tissues and their experimental evaluation.
2. Fundamental medical information on cardiovascular system.
3. Mechanical properties of cells and their computational modelling.
4. Anatomy and physiology of myocardium.ECG, Starling's law, pressure-volume diagrams.
5. Anatomy, histology and physiology of blood vessels. Composition of blood vessel wall and its mechanical components.
6. Arrangement of collagen fibres. Characteristics of flow in arteries, flow resistance.
7. Composition and rheological properties of blood, velocity profiles, Fahraeus-Lindqvist effect.
8. Theory of pulsatile flow, Moens-Korteweg equation, Womersley profiles.
9. Mechanical influence on atherosclerotic processes and principials of medical treatment. Arterial stents.
10. Vascular grafts (arterial replacements), types, properties, application, production.
11. Natural and artificial heart valves, principles of their function, overview of available products.
12. Ventricular assist devices and total artificial hearts.
13.Possibilities of computational modelling of cardiovascular system
Computer-assisted exercise
13 hours, compulsory
Syllabus
1.-2. FE model of animal cell.
3.-4. FE model of left ventricle.
5.-6. FE model of aorta, residual stress.
7.-8. Evaluation of residual stress in arteral wall using volume growth (fictitious temperature) method.
9.-10. Experiment – pulsatile flow in elastic tube.
11.-12. FSI simulation of blood flow in arteries.
13. Course-unit credit.