Effects of arterial wall thickness on pulse wave propagation

Abstract

To investigate the effects of arterial wall thickness on pulse wave propagation. The unsteady flow was assumed to be laminar, Newtonian, viscous and incompressible. The vessel wall was assumed to be linear-elastic, isotropic and incompressible. The fluid-wall interaction algorithm was constructed and the finite element method was employed. The results show that the increase of wall thickness makes pulse wave propagation fasten and the time delay could not be observed. The results indicate that the effects of arterial wall thickness on pulse wave propagation are significant. The fluidwall interaction model simulates wave propagation successfully.