Author(s)

Wenying Mu, Shanguang Chen, Fengyuan Zhuang, Yinghui Li, Yu Li

Instrument Science and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China.
School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Beijing, China.
Science and Technology on Human Factors Engineering Laboratory, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing, China.
State Key Lab of Space Medicine Fundamentals and Application, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing, China.

At a different angle, this study analyzed the contour chart of blood flow pressure, extreme pressure and its position to quantify DBFP in thirteen different postures with gravity considered or not (G ≠ 0 or G = 0). The aim was to determine the suitable body positions, in which the postural model of a single vessel could be simplified to two-dimensional (2D) symmetrical one while only considering such factors as posture and gravity. Computational fluid dynamic simulations were performed. Numerical results demonstrated that the DBFP showed 2D axisymmetry at ±90° and three-dimensional (3D) asymmetry at any other posture with G ≠ 0, and 2D axisymmetrical one at any posture with G = 0. Therefore, modeling a vessel as a 2D model is feasible in space and at ±90° posture on earth. In addition, the maximum pressure occurred between the inlet and the middle of the vessel, and its position variation mainly happened in the range of 0° - 15°. For a single vessel, this study provides the first theoretical evidence for cardiovascular modeling in microgravity and may help guide the researchers in designing defense devices for astronauts or patients clinically.

Distribution of Blood Flow Pressure (DBFP); Posture; Gravity; Numerical Simulation

Mu, W. , Chen, S. , Zhuang, F. , Li, Y. and Li, Y. (2012) Quantification of the distribution of blood flow pressure with postures. Journal of Biomedical Science and Engineering, 5, 113-119. doi: 10.4236/jbise.2012.53015.