ELECTRO-FLUID-DYNAMIC SIMULATOR OF THE CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM FOR THE RESEARCH IN ASSISTED CIRCULATION AREA

Human cardiovascular system models have been used to study dynamics of heart and circulation. They help understanding elastic behavior of great vessels, the action of valves, the blood flow and pressure, in normal physiological and pathology conditions. Moreover, they are a useful tool for the development of Ventricular Assist Devices (VAD). Simulation systems reduce the number of experimental surgeries and permit analysis of some conditions that are of difficult to establish "in vivo" experiments. This paper describes an electro-fluid-dynamic simulator of the cardiovascular system to be applied in the development of a VAD. This simulator, under development at our laboratories, consists of three modules: 1) electrical circuit model of the cardiovascular system that operates in the PSPICE simulator environment: it represents the arterial trees in a reduced form - "windkessel" - and the heart as variable elastances; 2) electronic controller (under development): based on the LabView® acquisition and control tool, that will act on the physical simulator; 3) physical simulator (under development): a fluid-dynamic simulator composed by linear actuators, for simulation of the active heart chambers, and compliance tubes for simulation of great vessels. This module is proposed based on results obtained with the electric circuit model (module 1). Simulation studies, using the electrical circuit model, provided physiological parameters acceptable for normal human conditions.