Background: Nowadays, a great emphasis has been placed on the modeling of the cardiovascular system. In 1d-models, the arterial diameter is generally deducted from the arterial pulse pressure by considering a stress-strain relationship. However, this assumption remains simplistic in nature since no interaction among elastic layers constituting the arterial wall is considered. Moreover, 3d-models offer generally a better description of the physiology of the arterial wall but are often too complex to be embedded in other 1d-arterial models.

Methods: In the present study, we propose a novel and simple 1d-model to simulate the arterial wall displacement in large arteries. This one relies on a system of coupled differential equations from the interactions among the elastic fibers of the arterial wall and the surrounding tissues. Thereafter, the common carotid arterial wall displacement is reproduced and compared to experimental data obtained from a high-resolution echo tracking ultrasound system in 10 patients.

Results: The model shows a distensibility of the carotid artery (5.6 10−3 mmHg−1 with the simulation) in the same range as observed for experimental data in 10 patients (4.5 10−3 mmHg−1). Moreover, the results suggest that the carotid diameter waveform cannot be directly substituted to the arterial pulse pressure as observed in other 1d-models and differs significantly during the systolic phase.

Conclusions: Subsequently, our model could give a reliable and useful tool for the simulation of the arterial wall displacement which could be easily embedded in other 1d-models treating of arterial system.