Hydrodynamics of arterial branching

A study was conducted to investigate the hydrodynamics of branching flow in relation to the blood supply to the basal part of the brain. A series of measurements of the branching loss-coefficients under laminar steady flow were conducted using model branches with various geometries, and the effect of branching on blood supply to distal areas was described using a lumped-parameter model of the vascular structure. It was revealed that in the blood circulation, branching loss is important where a small artery divides off with a large branching angle from a large trunk. It was also indicated that the effect of such branching on the distal blood supply might become more significant when the peripheral resistance is reduced, thereby increasing the blood velocity in the trunk.