Material mismatch and confinement to reproduce wrinkling of endothelial arteries under pressure

Isolation and cannulation of arteries in vitro allow the study of mechanical and geometrical properties when subjected to intraluminal pressures. Endothelial tissues in arteries are widely known for displaying functional transitions between wrinkles and smooth patterns when pressurized, a feature they also show in vivo samples when naturally driven by diastolic and systolic pumping. This work studies a synthetic inner-lined elastic tube with a stiffness mismatch between the lining and the support displays similar behavior. We investigate the wrinkles' geometry, amplitude, and wavelength as a function of the pressure changes. We compare the results with a nonlinear physical model we suitably developed.

We also emulate wrinkled patterns by buckling membranes on angular sections under geometric constraints and related point loads. The membrane wavelength selection mechanism completely differs from the material mismatch origin in synthetic inner-lined tubes but remarkably reproduces the observed patterns.