TY  - EJOU
AU  - Wu, Peishuo 
AU  - Zhu, Chi 

TI  - Fluid-Structure	Interaction	in	Arterial	Network	and	Implications	for	 Blood	Pressure	Measurement– A	Numerical	Study
T2  - The International Conference on Computational \& Experimental Engineering and Sciences

PY  - 2023
VL  - 25
IS  - 1
SN  - 1933-2815

AB  - Central	blood	pressure,	i.e.,	the	blood	pressure	near	the	heart,	is	an	important	physiological	indicator	of	the	
cardiovascular	function	of	a	patient.	However,	direct	measurement	of	this	quantity	is	rarely	carried	out	due	
to	 the	invasive	 nature	 of	 the	 procedure.	 Instead,	 blood	 pressure	 at	 the	 arm	 (brachial	 artery)	measured	
through	an	inflatable	cuff	is	commonly	used	 to	represent	or	estimate	 the	central	blood	pressure.	On	 the	
other	 hand,	 the	aortic	pressure	propagates	downstream	in	 the	 form	 of	pulse	waves,	which	 have	 to	pass	
through	a	complex	and	compliant	vascular	network	to	reach	the	brachial	artery.	Therefore,	the	efficacy	of	
cuff-measured	pressure	is	still	under	clinical	debate,	which	is	partially	stemmed	from	a	lack	of	understand	
of	the	physics	implicated in	the	propagation	process.	In	this	study,	we	theoretically	explore	the	effectiveness	
of	 the	 cuff	 measurement	 in	 evaluating	 central	 blood	 pressure	 through	 fluid-structure	 interaction	
simulations.	We	employ	a	patient-specific	arterial	tree	in	the	upper	limb	and	apply	physiologically-accurate	
boundary	conditions,	including	inlet	flow	rate	and	three-element	Windkessel	outlet	conditions.	The	fluidstructure	interaction	is	modeled	using	the	coupled	momentum	method.	The	spatial	variation	of	the	material	
property and	thickness	of	the	vessel	wall	is	taken	into	consideration,	and	we	investigate	the	influence	of	
several	popular	vascular	material	models	on	the	pressure	wave	propagation.	We	also	develop	an	analytical	
model	 to	provide	 further	insights	into	 the	 fluid-structure	interaction.	The	results	show	 that	 the	vascular	
diameter	 variation	 and	 the	 choice	 of	 vascular	 material	 model	 have	 a	 great	 impact	 on	 the	 pulse	 wave	
propagation;	 the	 analytical	 model	 is	 in	 great	 agreement	 with	 the	 numerical	 results	 and	 can	 be	 used	 to	
calibrate	the	difference	between	the	cuff-measured	pressure	and	the	central	blood	pressure.	This	study	can	
potentially	provide	a	theoretical	basis	for	the	development	of	more	accurate	non-invasive	blood	pressure	
measurement	methods.
KW  - Hemodynamics;	fluid-structure interaction; computational fluid dynamics;	blood	pressure

DO  - 10.32604/icces.2023.09869