Nonlinear waves in fluid-filled elastic tubes: A model to large arteries

Abstract

In the present work, by treating the arteries as a prestressed thin walled elastic tube of variable radius and the blood as an incompressible inviscid fluid, we have studied the propagation of weakly nonlinear waves in such a medium through the use of long wave approximation and the reductive perturbation method. The KdV equation with variable coefficient is obtained as the evolution equation. By seeking a progressive wave type of solution to this equation, we observed that the wave speed decreases with increasing inner radius while it increases with decreasing inner radius of the tube. Such a result is to be expected from physical considerations.