Blood flow in arteries

The aorta and arteries have a low resistance to blood flow compared with the
arterioles and capillaries.

Contraction of ventricle

Blood ejection

Arterioles have low/ high resistance ?

Arterial vessels

high resistance to flow

Inflation of arteries to accommodate blood

The elastic recoil of the arteries forces the blood out into the arterioles.
 The elastic properties of the arteries…. conversion of pulsatile flow of blood>>>
continuous flow
 Hemodynamics of blood

An accurate model of blood flow in the arteries would include the following
realistic features
1. The flow is pulsatile, with a time history containing major frequency
components up to the eighth harmonic of the heart period.
2. The arteries are elastic and tapered tubes.
3. The geometry of the arteries is complex and includes tapered, curved, and
branching tubes.
4. In small arteries, the viscosity depends upon vessel radius and shear rate.

The general time-dependent governing equations of fluid flow in a straight

cylindrical tube are given;

u ….axial component of the fluid velocity

2 v….radial component of the fluid velocity
r and z are the radial and axial coordinates,
3 and ρ and μ are the fluid density and viscosity
 The arteries are composed of elastin and collagen fibers and smooth
muscles in a complex circumferential organization with a variable helix.
The arteries are compliant vessels, and their wall stiffness increases with
deformation, as in all other connective tissues.
Blood vessels may function to store blood volume under pressure.
Because they have ability to expand as transmural pressure increases.
 They function as capacitance elements, similar to storage tanks.

The linear relationship between the volume V and the pressure defines
the capacitance of the storage element, or the vascular capacitance:

The capacitance (or compliance) decreases with increasing pressure, and also
decreases with age.
Veins have a much larger capacitance than arteries
 Waves propagation in arteries

Arterial pulse propagation varies along the circulatory system as a result of the
complex geometry and nonuniform structure of the arteries.
Then how we can learn the basic facts of arterial pulse characteristics???
We assumed an idealized case of an infinitely long circular elastic tube that
contains a homogenous, incompressible, and nonviscous fluid.
In order to analyze the velocity of propagation of the arterial pulse, we assume a
local perturbation, for example, in the tube cross-sectional area, that propagates
along the tube at a constant velocity c.
 Pulsatile flow

Pulsatile flow in an elastic vessel is very complex.

Why
The tube is able to undergo local deformations in both longitudinal and circumferential
directions.
The unsteady component of the pulsatile flow is assumed to be induced by
propagation of small waves in a pressurized elastic tube.
The dynamic equilibrium is expressed by the hydrodynamic equations
(Navier-Stokes) for the incompressible fluid flow
 Pascal’s law in blood pressure
What is Pascal’s law ?

Hydrostatic pressure of a fluid column causes a force that is transmitted

equally in all directions; at any given depth (h) in the liquid is the same no
matter what shape the container (vessel).

h= height
P=density
G=gravitational
acceleration

•SI unit: [Pa] = N/m2

•using height of liquid with the same pressure effect
p = h.r.g
Hydrostatic pressures = Effect of gravity on blood pressure measurement
 Torricelli's law

Torricelli's law, also known as Torricelli's theorem, is a theorem in fluid

dynamics relating the speed of fluid flowing out of an opening to the height of fluid
above the opening.
Torricelli's law states that the speed of efflux, v, of a fluid through a sharp-edged
hole at the bottom of a tank filled to a depth h is the same as the speed that a body
(in this case a drop of water) would acquire in falling freely from a height h, i.e.  ,
where g is the acceleration due to gravity (9.81 N/kg).,
Potential energy lost, mgh 
 Continuity equation – law of mass conversion

The volume of fluid (blood) flowing through a tube (vessel) per unit time is constant
(i.e. the flow rate at the left must be equal to the flow rate at the right.