Modelling heart tissue using a composite muscle model with blood perfusion

Publisher Summary This chapter uses a macroscopic approach to model heart-muscle tissue. Muscle fibers of the heart have the same structure as those of striated muscles. Nevertheless, the bulk behavior of the tissue differs. During a single heartbeat, the volume of heart tissue varies because of the blood flow through numerous capillaries feeding the heart with oxygen and nutritives. Although, for a healthy myocardium, the volume variation is not substantial, its modelling may be of interest for more complex studies. Thus, for the myocardium the usual incompressibility assumption, which is generally accepted for both smooth and striated muscles, should be replaced by a model allowing for blood perfusion of the muscle. The chapter presents a simple model of blood perfusion coupled with the composite model of soft tissues. The model is evaluated using a numerical example simulating the perfusion through the deforming block of heart tissue under a periodic pressure loading and muscle activation.