Application of the Method of Characteristics for the Study of Shock Waves in Models of Blood Flow in the Aorta

Abstract

Numerical algorithms are presented for the numerical solution of the one-dimensional model of blood flow in the aorta. The pertinent hyperbolic equations are written using Riemann invariants, which are integrated along the characteristics using two efficient algorithms. Because of the hyperbolic nature of the equations shock waves are to be expected, and their occurrence is discussed.