Engineering understanding of high blood pressure 1

[jdgabs]

Some times ago i had a discussion with a Nephrologist about treatment and management of high blood pressure. From the discussion, i realized (as a petroleum and chemical engineer) that there might just be a possible engineering model for looking at high blood pressure.
At my MSc level i did a study on pressure gradient in multiphase fluid systems. considering the human circulatory system and the blood as a multiphase fluid, the arteries, veins and synapse as tubes of varying diameter and roughness and the heart as the pump, i convinced myself that pressure drop analysis of multiphase fluid flows can be extended to better understanding of high blood pressure.
I wrote this message to find out if there is any person (preferably a senior colleaque) who shares this conviction and is willing to work with me.

 

[MikeHalloran]

I worked for ~25 years on blood cell counters, where most of the plumbing carries highly diluted blood, which acts mostly like salt water, and the flows are strongly laminar because the lumens are small.

It's been widely asserted that whole blood is a Bingham fluid, which just means it has odd properties that are probably beneficial in capillaries, and can help in understanding the sub-systems where whole blood is aspirated from a test tube or a tiny cup.

I worked for ~5 years on yacht exhausts, which are mostly multiphase because cooling water is commonly injected to control heat so fiberglass pipes and mufflers can be used. The flow regime that's of most interest is mist flow, typical of WFO, where some of the water must be dumped overboard because of odd super-pressure effects at high water flows. Probably not of much interest to you.

WRT to blood pressure, the gold standard is a cuff that partially compresses tissue, and a mercury manometer to measure the cuff pressure at which the sound changes. I'm not sure there is a correlation to the actual arterial pressure, which cannot so far be measured noninvasively, and if it could, the medical community would take a couple of decades to begin trusting it. I have found that automated cuffs from Omron give more trustworthy (to me) measurements than the manual cuff and manometer.

What are you interested in doing?


Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[jdgabs]

Thanks MikeHalloran for your submission

One of the most challenging factors in multiphase investigation or monitoring is the high tendencies for flow stream modifications (i.e. changes in flow regimes) this is because each of the flow patterns has its unique impact on the flow parameters. The flow pattern is also very sensitivity to flow line orientation. Another important factor that affects the flow regime is the fluid characteristics of the two phases.
I have worked on air-silicone multiphase system in the past and have characteristics. There are other works in the literature on multiphase pressure drop some on computational fluid dynamics and the likes. I intend to extend this studies to understanding of blood flow as stated below.

[a]Overall aims and objectives
To develop a multiphase pressure drop model for the human circulatory system, by classifying bloodstream flow into flow regimes. And
To predict blood pressure gradient based on the identified flow regimes and fit a pressure drop scheme for the bloodstream.

Expected research contribution
New understanding of the blood pressure behavior as a proposition of alternative or complimentary solution to bloodstream pressure management leading to an increase in the frontiers of knowledge on the subject matter there by creating more funding, attention and governmental policy

 

[MikeHalloran]

I'm not convinced that a multiphase model is appropriate for whole blood flow in vivo.
For example:

In a common muliphase flow, e.g. seawater in exhaust gas, it's possible to establish a bulk velocity for the seawater, and a bulk velocity for the gas, and to characterize the flow by the ratio of the bulk velocities, which are similar only in the case of mist flow.

Blood flow, AFAIK, is commonly characterized as a tube flowing completely full of jelly doughnuts (red cells), with the interstices filled with syrup (plasma), and a few grapes (white cells) and some other stuff, all sort of oozing along, all at basically the same bulk velocity.
... which is pulsatile, because of the heartbeat.

Have you been able to find any data on disparate bulk flow rates among the various components of blood?




Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[bimr]

If it were that simple, treatment would be easy.

"Essential hypertension" is high blood pressure that doesn't have a known secondary cause. It's also referred to as primary hypertension. Blood pressure is the force of blood against your artery walls as your heart pumps blood through your body.

Doctors have yet to determine simple things like what causes a headache. Doctors do not know what causes essential hypertension either.

Essential hypertension