The existing methods to solve the problems of pulsatile flow in the cardiovascular system are based on either linear axisymmetric equations or non-linear one-dimensional equations. The solutions thus obtained give only a mediocre comparison with measurements. In this paper, a non-linear axisymmetric theory is proposed. The starting point of the present theory is a third degree polynomial representation of the velocity profile. Integral methods are then applied to obtain the governing equations. To ascertain the accuracy of the theory proposed above, the calculations for a simple case involving pulsatile flow in a long rigid tube were performed. The results are: (a) the average velocities compare very well with exact solutions and (b) the velocity profiles for a given frequency agree very well with exact solutions for flow in small tubes, but tend to differ as tube size is increased.
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