Intracranial aneurysm is a local dilatation of an intracranial artery with high risk of rupture
and death. Although it is generally accepted that the weakening of the arterial wall is the
main cause for the rupture of an aneurysm, it still no consensus about the reasons for its
creation, expansion and rupture. In particular, what is the role played by the blood flow
in these phenomena. In this way, the aim of this work is the in vitro mechanical assessment
of the wall expansion, namely the displacements, deformations and strains occurring in a
saccular intracranial aneurysm model, when subjected to different flow rates. To obtain
new insights into the mechanisms involved in the aneurysm rupture, a 3D-VicTM Digital
Image Correlation System was used and validated with a finite element analysis. The wall
expansion results have revealed that the displacements, deformations and principal strains
are directly related to the internal pressure caused by the fluid on the wall of the aneurism.
These findings were especially observed in the weakened areas of the aneurysm model,
where the wall was thinner. Furthermore, the technique used in this study has shown to
be a potential method to validate numerical simulations of aneurysms, allowing the future
performance of more complex and realistic haemodynamic studies.