Quantification of Hemodynamic Pulse Wave Velocity Based on a Thick Wall Multi-Layer Model for Blood Vessels

Pulse wave velocity (PWV) is an important index of arterial hemodynamics, which lays the foundation for continuous, noninvasive blood pressure automated monitoring. The goal of this paper is to examine the accuracy of PWV prediction based on a traditional homogeneous structural model for thin-walled arterial segments. In reality arteries are described as composite heterogeneous hyperelastic structures, where the thickness dimension cannot be considered small compared to the cross section size. In this paper we present a hemodynamic fluid -structure interaction model accounting for the variation of geometry and material properties in a radial direction. The model is suitable to account for the highly nonlinear orthotropic material undergoing finite deformation for each layer. Numerical analysis of single and two layer arterial segments shows that a single thick layer model provides sufficient accuracy to predict PWV. The dependence of PWV on pressure for three vessels of different thicknesses is compared against a traditional thin wall model of a membrane shell interacting with an incompressible fluid. The presented thick wall model provides greater accuracy in the prediction of PWV, and will be important for blood pressure estimation based on PWV measurements.