The goal of this project is to develop techniques for the noninvasive description of the mechanics of the right ventricular free wall of the heart. First, an image of the free wall is reconstructed from magnetic resonance images, then the tension in the wall is determined based on the right ventricular pressure and the MRI-derived cardiac geometry. Through the sophisticated use of engineering mechanics the project is to result in enhanced understanding of cardiac physiology; it may also lead to a new noninvasive method to characterize right ventricular function.
