Elastic constants of inflated lobes of dog lungs

Abstract

The elastic constants of dog lungs were determined at various degrees of inflation. In one set of experiments, the lobes were subjected to deformations that approximated the conditions of uniaxial loading. These data, together with the bulk modulus data obtained from the local slope of the pressure-volume curve, were used to determine the two elastic moduli that are needed to describe small nonuniform deformations about an initial state of uniform inflation. The bulk modulus was approximately 4 times the inflation pressure, and Young's modulus was approximately 1.5 times the inflation pressure. In a second set of experiments, lobes were subjected to indentation tests using cylindric punches 1–3 cm in diameter. The value for Young's modulus obtained from these data was slightly higher, approximately twice the inflation pressure. These experiments indicate that the lung is much more easily deformable in shear than in dilatation and that the Poisson ratio for the lung is high, approximately 0.43.