Blood is pumped from the left ventricle of the heart of mammals into the aorta (and from there into the body). The blood flows from the ventricle through the aortic valve as long as the pressure in the ventricle is higher than in the aorta (the valve makes sure blood does not flow back into the heart).
Data of blood pressure in the left ventricle and in the aorta (outside of the valve) has been taken in a sheep. In a ddition, the flow has been measured in the aorta. A model was used to extrapolate from the flow in the aorta to the flow through the valve.
a. Use the data file => Sheep_Flow_Char.xls to plot the pressures and the flow through the valve as functions of time. Use standard SI units. b. Create the characteristic diagram of the flow through the aortic valve. (Use the data file => Sheep_Flow_Char.xls). Use standard SI units. c. Estimate the diamter of the aorta adjacent to the heart Use this to calculate the Bernoulli pressure difference from the ventricle to the aorta. Correct the pressure difference in the flow characteristic. How important is this change? d. Can you identify laminar and turbulent regimes in the characteristic diagram? If so, determine flow resistance and flow factor. | | 
pA / mmHg | pV / mmHg | IV / m^3/s | 60.87 | 79.83 | 2.35E-04 | 69.6 | 99.06 | 2.75E-04 | 79.25 | 106.03 | 2.66E-04 | 85.08 | 108.99 | 2.50E-04 | 87.05 | 109.03 | 2.29E-04 | 86.7 | 109.05 | 2.17E-04 | 86.14 | 107.15 | 2.04E-04 | 86.25 | 104.2 | 1.91E-04 | 87.54 | 100.37 | 1.77E-04 | 85.53 | 97.19 | 1.69E-04 | 83.2 | 94.25 | 1.62E-04 | 79.15 | 90.58 | 1.45E-04 | 78.49 | 87.01 | 1.30E-04 | 76.11 | 82.7 | 1.04E-04 | 72.53 | 78.07 | 7.65E-05 | 70.47 | 73.56 | 3.89E-05 | |
