A multi-scale flow model for studying blood circulation in the vascular system

In the last few decades, numerical models have become an essential tool for medical science. In this paper, we develop a multi-scale model for studying blood flow in the existing vascular structure of an organ. The model simulates tracer concentration flow that replicates Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging (DCE-MRI) data. We coupled a 1D vascular graph model to represent blood flow through vascular vessel network and flow in the porous medium based on Darcy's law for the capillary bed. Numerical experiments show the blood circulation in the system closely related to the structure and parameter of the vascular system, that gives realistic tracer concentration flow. The proposed model is complex enough so that it captures reliably the physiology of the system, and at the same time, it is simple enough so that simulations can be performed on a regular PC. Keywords: blood circulation, Darcy flow, multi-scale flow, vascular graph model.