Biomechanical analysis of sheep oesophagus subjected to biaxial testing including hyperelastic constitutive model fitting

High quality computational model of soft tissues is a function of accurate and reliable mechanical properties. Hyperelastic constitutive models are normally utilised in developing reliable computational models. Therefore, section of proper and reliable constitutive models for soft tissue is critical. This work presents the biomechanical properties of oesophagus subjected to biaxial mechanical tensile test. Additionally, six hyperelastic constitutive models commonly used for modelling behaviour of soft tissues were selected. The experimental data were then fitted on Fung, Choi-Vito, Holzapfel (2000), Holzapfel (2005), Polynomial (Anisotropic) and Four-Fiber Family hyperelastic constitutive models. The sheep oesophagus subjected to equi-biaxial tension has exhibited different stress magnitude in both longitudinal and circumferential directions. There is significant difference between circumferential and longitudinal stresses (p = 0.0034). The average circumferential and longitudinal stresses are recorded to be 82.87 ± 30.36 kPa and 41.42 ± 32.02 kPa, respectively (p = 0.0034). Between six hyperelastic constitutive models, it was observed that Four-Fiber model has produced better fit when compared to others. After fitting biaxial mechanical properties of oesophagus, it was found that the Four-fiber family hyperelastic constitutive model would best fit.