Parameters and Branching Auto-Pulses in a Fluid Channel with Active Walls

Abstract

We present numerical solutions of the semi-phenomenological model of self-propagating fluid pulses (auto-pulses) in the channel branching into two thinner channels, which simulates branching of a hypothetical artificial artery. The model is based on the lubrication theory coupled with elasticity and has the form of a single nonlinear partial differential equation with respect to the displacement of the elastic wall as a function of the distance along the channel and time. The equation is solved numerically using the 1D integrated radial basis function network method. Using homogeneous boundary conditions on the edges of space domain and continuity condition at the branching point, we obtained and analyzed solutions in the form of auto-pulses penetrating through the branching point from the thick channel into the thin channels. We evaluated magnitudes of the phenomenological coefficients responsible for the active motion of the walls in the model.