A black-box decomposition approach for coupling heterogeneous components in hemodynamics simulations

Abstract

This work presents a generic and efficient black-box approach for the strong iterative coupling of dimensionally heterogeneous flow models in computational hemodynamics. A heterogeneous model of the cardiovascular system is formed by several vascular black-box components, which are connected through coupling equations. The associated system of equations is solved using the Broyden algorithm. In addition, a multiple time-stepping strategy is introduced to meet different component requirements. The proposed algorithm is employed to split a 3D-1D-0D closed-loop model of the cardiovascular system into corresponding black-box components standing for the 3D (specific vessels), 1D (systemic arteries/peripheral vessels), and 0D (venous/cardiac/pulmonary circulation) components. Examples of application are presented showing the robustness and suitability of this novel approach.