Multiscale Coupling of One-dimensional Vascular Models and Elastic Tissues

Area of Science:

• Computational biology
• Biomedical engineering
• Multiscale modeling

Background:

• Vascularized tissues require sophisticated models to simulate complex interactions between blood flow and tissue mechanics.
• Existing methods often struggle with computational efficiency when modeling both microscale vasculature and macroscale tissue behavior.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and assess a novel computational multiscale model for simulating vascularized tissues.
• To evaluate the model's capability in reproducing effective-scale tissue responses from microscale vascular data.
• To demonstrate the robustness and efficiency of the coupled model in realistic scenarios.

Main Methods:

• A coupled multiscale approach integrating a 3D elastic matrix with a 1D vascular network.
• Finite element method (FEM) for solving elasticity equations in the tissue.
• High-order finite volume scheme for simulating intravascular pressure and velocity.
• Surrogation of blood vessel pressure effects using hyper-singular forcing terms.

Main Results:

• The multiscale model successfully reproduces tissue response at the millimeter scale from microscale vascular simulations.
• Validation against a full 3D model confirms the accuracy of the coupled approach.
• The method demonstrates robust and efficient handling of one-way coupling between fluid microstructures and the elastic matrix.

Conclusions:

• The proposed computational multiscale model offers an efficient and accurate method for simulating vascularized tissues.
• This approach provides a feasible pathway for understanding tissue mechanics influenced by intricate vascular networks.
• The model's ability to handle complex fluid-tissue interactions opens possibilities for advanced biomedical simulations.