A Lattice Boltzmann Model for pulsative blood flow in elastic vessels

Lattice Boltzmann Models (LBM) are widely used to solve fluid mechanical problems in engineering applications. In this work a brief introduction of LBM is given and a new boundary condition is proposed for the cardiovascular domain to support elastic walls in order to simulate blood flow in elastic vessels. The flow field is calculated in two spatial dimensions revealing characteristic flow patterns and geometrical changes of the arterial walls for different time dependent input contours of pressure and flow. For steady flow the results are compared to the predictions of the model proposed by Fung which is an extension of Poiseuille's theory. For unsteady flow the model was validated with the solution given by Womersley. The results are very promising for relevant Reynolds and Womersley numbers.