Mathematical modelling of flow distribution in the human cardiovascular system

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular physiology
• Biomedical engineering
• Computational fluid dynamics

Background:

• Understanding cardiovascular system dynamics is crucial for diagnosing and treating various diseases.
• Accurate modeling of blood flow distribution is essential for predicting physiological responses to stimuli.
• Previous models often simplified the complex elastic properties of the arterial-venous network.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a comprehensive computational model of the entire human cardiovascular system.
• To investigate how external stimuli and internal parameter changes affect blood flow distribution.
• To simulate and analyze the impact of altered blood vessel elasticity on hemodynamics.

Main Methods:

• Representing the arterial-venous network using 325 interconnected elastic segments.
• Applying hydrodynamic and elastic stress/strain equations for segment modeling.
• Utilizing the finite-element technique for analysis and accommodating various boundary conditions.
• Incorporating realistic input functions simulating cardiac output.

Main Results:

• The model successfully simulates blood flow distribution within the cardiovascular system.
• Simulation results demonstrate changes in flow distribution due to variations in blood vessel elasticity.
• Calculated overall flow rates showed minimal significant errors, even when vessels were modeled as rigid tubes.

Conclusions:

• The developed cardiovascular model provides a robust platform for studying hemodynamic changes.
• Blood flow distribution is relatively insensitive to extreme alterations in vessel elastic properties.
• The model's findings support the resilience of the cardiovascular system's flow dynamics.