A hydraulic model of arterial system for study the relationship between blood distribution and frequency characteristics of blood pressure waveform

This paper endeavours to find a suitable hydraulic model for studying the frequency characteristics between blood pressure waveforms and systemic blood distribution. In the hydraulic model, the elastic tubes simulated the aorta and its major branches. The small balloons with different stiffness were used as organs. We used two kinds of tubes to test the hydraulic model and tried to find suitable material to simulate the aorta and its major branches. We also used different volume of balloons to simulate the organs. The self-designed pump that could generate arbitrary pressure waves and pure sinusoidal waves was used to simulate the heart. For each different output waveform of the pump, we measured the flow into each balloon by an ultrasonic transducer and the pressure at the same sites by a strain gauge transducer. A summary of the experiments showed that the latex tube was a more suitable material than silicone tube. In this way, this paper provides a framework for future efforts in hydraulic modelling and animal model experiments for the systemic circulation.