Numerical methods for simulating blood flow at macro, micro, and multi scales.

Abstract

In the past decade, numerical methods for the computational biomechanics of blood flow have progressed to overcome difficulties in diverse applications from cellular to organ scales. Such numerical methods may be classified by the type of computational mesh used for the fluid domain, into fixed mesh methods, moving mesh (boundary-fitted mesh) methods, and mesh-free methods. The type of computational mesh used is closely related to the characteristics of each method. We herein provide an overview of numerical methods recently used to simulate blood flow at macro and micro scales, with a focus on computational meshes. We also discuss recent progress in the multi-scale modeling of blood flow.