1New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, New Jersey, U.S.A.
2Newark and Stratford Campuses, New Jersey, U.S.A
This talk is concerned with blood flow in an oscillating artery, which undergoes large elastic deformations. A mathematical model is formulated which gives the dependence of blood flow on variations in the non-linear elastic parameters. These parameters are associated with a pseudo-strain energy function of exponential type. The effects of residual stresses and strains are included in the model. Given the values of the elastic parameters and opening angle, we are able to compute the flow velocity, pressure and cross sectional area at a point in the artery, as well as the arterial wall thickness and stresses throughout the wall. The model has been formulated so that the only data which need be input (in addition to the elastic parameters) are the pressure and velocity versus time at the upstream inlet. These quantities are easily measured in vivo. By way of illustration, the blood flow resulting from oscillating rabbit thoracic arteries, which differ only in opening angle, is studied. It is found that the flow velocity is insensitive to the opening angle, whereas the maximum admissible flow rate occurs in an artery that has the least opening angle.