A computer model of pulse wave and input impedance in human arteries

To predict the propagation of pressure and flow pulses in arterial system and the variation of vascular input impedance, a branched and tapered tube model is studied through one-dimensional transient flow analysis. Coupling the continuity and momentum equations yields a group of quasilinear hyperbolic partial differential equations which can be solved numerically by using the method of characteristics. Several boundary conditions of the arterial system are also simplified suitably. The propagation of the pulses of the arterial system and the vascular input impedance is calculated on computer by using the dimensions and the physiological data of the arterial system. The results point out that the pressure and flow pulses of the arterial system and the vascular input impedance produced by this theoretical model is consistent quite well with the experimental results published.