One-Dimensional Blood Flow with Discontinuous Properties and Transport: Mathematical Analysis and Numerical Schemes

Abstract

In this paper we consider the one-dimensional blood flow model with discontinuous mechanical and geometrical properties, as well as passive scalar transport, proposed in [E.F. Toro and A. Siviglia. Flow in collapsible tubes with discontinuous mechanical properties: mathematical model and exact solutions. Communications in Computational Physics. 13(2), 361-385, 2013], completing the mathematical analysis by providing new propositions and new proofs of relations valid across different waves. Next we consider a first order DOT Riemann solver, proposing an integration path that incorporates the passive scalar and proving the well-balanced properties of the resulting numerical scheme for stationary solutions. Finally we describe a novel and simple well-balanced, second order, non-linear numerical scheme to solve the equations under study; by using suitable test problems for which exact solutions are available, we assess the well-balanced properties of the scheme, its capacity to provide accurate solutions in challenging flow conditions and its accuracy.