Analysis of signal propagation in an elastic-tube flow model

We combine linear and nonlinear signal analysis techniques to investigate the transmission of pressure signals along a one-dimensional model of fluid flow in an elastic tube. We derive a simple, generally applicable measure for the robustness of a simulated vessel against in vivo pressure fluctuations, based on quantifying the degree of synchronization between proximal and distal pressure pulses. The practical use of this measure will be in its application to simulated pulses generated in response to a stochastic forcing term mimicking biological variations of root pressure in arterial blood flow.