Nonlinear buckling of blood vessels: a theoretical study

Tortuosity and kinking often occur in arteries and veins but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. It has been suggested recently that long arteries may buckle and become tortuosity due to reduced axial tension or hypertensive pressure, but very few studies have been done to establish the biomechanical basis for artery buckling. Here we developed the arterial buckling equation using a nonlinear elastic thick-walled cylindrical model with residual stress. Our results demonstrated that arteries may buckle due to high blood pressure or low axial tension and that residual stress in the arteries increases the buckling pressure. These results are in general agreement with the previous linear elastic model. The buckling equation provides a useful tool for studying artery tortuosity and kinking.