Nonlinear Waves Seminar: Radu Cascaval

Meso/Macroscopic Models for Flow Optimization in Vascular Networks

Radu Cascaval

Department of Mathematics, University of Colorado Colorado Springs

Date and time: 

Tuesday, February 24, 2015 - 4:30pm

Location: 

ECOT 226

Abstract: 

The cardiovascular system is designed to be a very robust system, meant to function under a wide range of external conditions. Understanding its dynamics in basal condition as well as in such dynamic states is desirable and several mathematical models have been developed to achieve this goal. In this talk we present a Boussinesq-type system for modeling the dynamics of pressure-flow in  arterial networks, considered as a 1d spatial network. Numerical solutions of the system of PDE are obtained via the discontinuous Galerkin schemes and are compared with simplified models based on particle-tracking arguments. We present several flow optimization studies, which include the geometry and size of the network as well as boundary control. Physiologically realistic control mechanisms are also tested in the context of these simplified models.