Hemodynamics and Factors

Affecting Blood Flow

Amir Golnabi
ENGS 166
Spring 2008

Outline:
Blood Flow
Blood Pressure
Facts
Mean Arterial Pressure
Total Blood Volume

Vascular Resistance
Size Of The Lumen
Blood Viscosity
Total Length of Blood Vessel

Conclusion
Rate of Blood Flow

References

Blood Flow:
Blood flow: Amount of blood that flows through any tissue
in a given period of time (mL/min)
Total blood flow: Volume of blood that circulates through
the systemic and pulmonary blood vessels each minute
Cardiac Output (CO)
Cardiac output (CO) = heart rate (HR) x stroke volume
(SV)
Distribution of CO into different body tissues:
1.Pressure difference of different parts of the body
Pressure Blood Flow

2.Resistance of specific blood vessels to blood flow

Resistance Blood Flow

1. Blood Pressure (BP):

Blood flow: Pressure Pressure
BP: Contraction of the ventricles hydrostatic pressure
exerted by blood on the walls of a blood vessel.
Normal BP in a young adult at rest:
110 mmHg during ventricular contraction, systole
70 mmHg during ventricular relaxation, diastole
Systemic Circulation:

Tortora,
Gerard,
and
Bryan
Derrick
son.
Princip
les of
Anato
my and
Physiol
ogy.
Wiley,
2006.
747.

Blood Pressure (cont.):

Mean Arterial Pressure (MAP): The average blood
pressure in arteries closer to diastolic pressure during the
greater portion of the cardiac cycle
MAP = diastolic BP + 1/3(systolic BP diastolic BP)
(80 + 1/3(120 80)) = 93 mmHg
CO = HR x SV
CO = MAP/R where R is the vascular resistance
MAP = CO x R
SV or HR CO
and if R stays constant MAP

Blood Pressure (cont.):

Total volume of blood in the cardiovascular
system:
5 liters of blood in total
Modest decrease in BV Homeostatic mechanism
More than 10% BP
Water retention BP

2. Vascular Resistance:
Friction between blood and the walls of blood
vessels: resists to blood flow
Vascular resistance depends on three factors:
(1) Size of the blood vessels
(2) Blood viscosity
(3) Total blood vessels length

2.1. Size of Blood Vessels:

Size of the lumen of a blood vessel Resistance to
blood flow
forth power law: the resistance increases in proportion to
the inverse of the forth power of the diameter:

1
R 4
d

Vasoconstriction: Narrowing of the vessels resulting from

contraction of the muscular wall of the vessels
Vasodilation: Widening of the vessels resulting from
relaxation of the muscular wall of the vessels
constant fluctuations Resistance BP

2.2. Blood Viscosity:

Shearing force F
Different layers of the blood move with different velocities
causing a shearing action (friction) between them
Rate of shear () is the relative displacement of one fluid
layer with respect to the next
slope of the velocity profile: v/h

Blood moves by the action of shear stress

the force per area, = F/A

Viscosity:
= shear stress / shear rate = /

2.2. Blood Viscosity (cont.):

Blood:
Plasma: 0.015 Poise
Hematocrit (Ht): normally about 46% for men and 38% for women

plasma 1 2.5Ht
0.0151 2.5 0.46 0.032 Poise
Factors:
Size of blood vessels Velocity (shear rate) Viscosity
Temperature Viscosity
1C Viscosity by 2%

2.3. total length of blood vessel:

Resistance to blood flow through a vessel total length of
blood vessel
Hypertension additional blood vessels in the adipose
tissue total blood vessel length is longer resistance to
blood flow blood pressure
For each extra kilogram of fat, an estimated 650 km (about
400 miles) of additional blood vessels can develop in our
body!!!

Rate of Blood Flow

Poiseuilles Law:

P r 4
F
8 l

F: rate of blood flow

P: pressure difference between two ends of the
vessel
r: radius of the vessel
: blood viscosity
l: length of the vessel

References:
"An Introduction to Blood Pressure". Maryland Virtual High School of Science and
Mathematics. 04/27/2008 <http://mvhs.shodor.org/edgrid/bloodpressure/bptoblt.pdf>.
Bipin , Upadhyay. "BLOOD VISCOSITY FUNCTIONAL PARAMETERS". COLLEGE OF
BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING AND APPLIED SCIENCES. 04/28/2008
<http://www.biomedical.edu.np/biomed_files/>.
Freeman, Scott. Biological Science. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall,
2005.
Guyton, Arthur, and John Hall. Textbook of Medical Physiology. PA: Elsevier, 2006.
Purves, William K.; David Sadava, Gordon H. Orians, H. Craig Heller (2004). Life: The
Science of Biology, 7th, Sunderland, Mass: Sinauer Associates, 954.
Tortora, Gerard, and Bryan Derrickson. Principles of Anatomy and Physiology. Wiley,
2006.