A mathematical model for the study of the pulsatile flow of blood under anexternally imposed body acceleration

The laminar pulsatile flow of blood under the influence of externally impos ed body accelerations is studied in the paper. A mathematical model is deve loped by treating blood as a non-Newtonian fluid, using a biviscosity model for blood. The governing equations are solved by using finite-difference t echnique. Closed form solutions by Laplace transformations are also obtaine d for the low pulse frequency region and these solutions are compared with the results obtained numerically and with those of previous studies. Agreem ent in both the cases is found to be good. Computational results are presen ted for the effects of periodic body acceleration on the flow of blood pass ing through a straight cylindrical vessel. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. A ll rights reserved.