Identifying the parameters of viscoelastic model for a gel-type material as representative of cardiac muscle in dynamic tests

Electropneumatic system for the simulation of the pulmonary viscoelastic effect in a mechanical ventilation scenario

The viscoelastic properties of the lung have important implications during respiratory mechanics in terms of lung movement or work of breathing, for example. However, this property has not been well characterized due to several reasons, such as the complex nature of the lung, difficulty accessing its tissues, and the lack of physical simulators that represent viscoelastic effects. This research proposes an electropneumatic system and a method to simulate the viscoelastic effect from temporary forces generated by the opposition of magnetic poles. The study was tested in a mechanical ventilation scenario with inspiratory pause, using a Hamilton-S1 mechanical ventilator (Hamilton Medical) and a simulator of the human respiratory system (SAMI-SII). The implemented system was able to simulate the stress relaxation response of a Standard Linear Solid model in the Maxwell form and showed the capacity to control elastic and viscous parameters independently. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first system incorporated into a physical lung simulator that represents the viscoelastic effect in a mechanical ventilation scenario.

Investigating the influence of the viscoelastic material as a heart muscle simulator on the powering leadless pacemaker from heartbeats by using a piezoelectric beam

This paper studies experimentally and analytically the influence of the viscoelastic cardiac muscle on the energy harvesting from heartbeats for powering the leadless pacemakers by using a piezoelectric beam. An appropriate representative gel-type viscoelastic material that mimics the heart tissue is used in the tests. The piezoelectric beam coupled with a gel-type material is analytically modeled, and experimentally tested. By considering a combination of the translational standard linear solid model and a rotational spring component for the gel-type material, the analytical model of the coupled system is developed utilizing the generalized Hamilton’s principle. The system is attached on top of a shaker and excited harmonically, and the time history of output voltage and accelerations are measured. The analytical model is verified by experimental results for the tip displacement, voltage, generated power, phase-portraits histories, and voltage FRF with harmonic base excitations. Transmissibility analysis by the analytical model shows that for excitation frequencies beyond a specific frequency, the viscoelastic material can magnify the amplitude of the excitation and incredibly improve the power generation. Experimental results demonstrate that by coupling the gel into the harvester, oscillations of the tip are increased into high energy orbits and large tip deflections around the resonance frequency. The significantly widened frequency bandwidth and the increased power output at specific input frequencies are the other results of considering the viscoelastic characteristics of the heart wall in the dynamic investigations. By simulating the response of the energy harvesting system to the heartbeat impulsive rhythm, when the energy harvesting system is attached to the viscoelastic material, the output power is increased from 18 to 55 µW. The obtained results reveal that influence of the viscoelastic properties of the heart muscle is crucial in the accurate design of the energy harvesting system for the self-powered medical leadless pacemaker.

Constitutive Equations for Analyzing Stress Relaxation and Creep of Viscoelastic Materials Based on Standard Linear Solid Model Derived with Finite Loading Rate

The viscoelastic properties of materials such as polymers can be quantitatively evaluated by measuring and analyzing the viscoelastic behaviors such as stress relaxation and creep. The standard linear solid model is a classical and commonly used mathematical model for analyzing stress relaxation and creep behaviors. Traditionally, the constitutive equations for analyzing stress relaxation and creep behaviors based on the standard linear solid model are derived using the assumption that the loading is a step function, implying that the loading rate used in the loading process of stress relaxation and creep tests is infinite. Using such constitutive equations may cause significant errors in analyses since the loading rate must be finite (no matter how fast it is) in a real stress relaxation or creep experiment. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the constitutive equations for analyzing stress relaxation and creep behaviors based on the standard linear solid model derived with a finite loading rate. The finite element computational simulation results demonstrate that the constitutive equations derived with a finite loading rate can produce accurate results in the evaluation of all viscoelastic parameters regardless of the loading rate in most cases. It is recommended that the constitutive equations derived with a finite loading rate should replace the traditional ones derived with an infinite loading rate to analyze stress relaxation and creep behaviors for quantitatively evaluating the viscoelastic properties of materials.