Towards the development of a fully coupled arterial-venous 1D model: suitability of using a 1D finite volume method with staggered spatial discretization

Abstract

In this paper we outline the development of a 1D finite volume model to solve for blood flow through the arterial system. The model is based on a staggered spatial discretization which leads to a stable solution scheme. This scheme can accurately capture the various pressure wave reflections at locations with distinct discontinuities (in both area and material properties) as well as naturally treat branching vessels. We investigate the behaviour and performance of the solver for both a stented and branching vessel and finally for a full arterial network consisting of 55 arteries within the human vascular network.