Shock waves in flow of an incompressible liquid in collapsing pipes: Application to large blood vessels

Abstract

Flow of a liquid in collapsing pipes is of great interest for problems in the mechanics of blood circulation, since collapse can take place in many blood vessels. This effect forms the basis for a large number of diagnostic and therapeutic methods, and also for methods of investigating the system of blood circulation. Consequently the mechanics of collapsing pipes has been studied intensively of late [1], but the available studies are far from exhausting the theoretical or the applied aspects of the problem. This applies also to the study of discontinuous solutions such as shock waves which describe steep fronts of opening or narrowing of a blood vessel. The most studied phenomenon is unsteady flow caused by change in the external pressure [2]. There is an explanation in [3–6] of the effect on the process of formation of discontinuities in collapsing pipes due to such factors as friction on the wall, distributed lateral outflow, the presence of a stagnant zone in the flow, and viscoelasticity of the wall. The origin of some acoustic phenomena in the arteries is connected by some with the propagation of discontinuities; these phenomena include Korotkov sounds, used in the determination of the arterial pressure of blood [1, 7]. The present study considers quasione-dimensional flow of a viscous incompressible liquid in a collapsing pipe of finite length and made of a nonlinear viscoelastic material; there is a study of the conditions in which discontinuities arise in such systems, and an investigation of the structure of shock waves with allowance for the effect of the surrounding tissues.