Wave Propagation in Thin-Walled Aortic Analogues

Research on wave propagation in liquid filled vessels is often motivated by the need to understand arterial blood flows. Theoretical and experimental investigation of the propagation of waves in flexible tubes has been studied by many researchers. The analytical one-dimensional frequency domain wave theory has a great advantage of providing accurate results without the additional computational cost related to the modern time domain simulation models. For assessing the validity of analytical and numerical models, well defined in vitro experiments are of great importance. The objective of this paper is to present a frequency domain analytical model based on the one-dimensional wave propagation theory and validate it against experimental data obtained for aortic analogs. The elastic and viscoelastic properties of the wall are included in the analytical model. The pressure, volumetric flow rate, and wall distention obtained from the analytical model are compared with experimental data in two straight tubes with aortic relevance. The analytical results and the experimental measurements were found to be in good agreement when the viscoelastic properties of the wall are taken into account.