2018 International Conference on Intelligent and Advanced System (ICIAS)

Circuit Modeling and Analysis of Cardiovascular

System using Analog Circuit Analogy
Latty Shazana Ismail, Saiful A. Zulkifli, Nor Hisham Hamid
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS
32610 Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia.

Abstract-Cardiovascular disease is one of major diseases that

contribute to mortalities and morbidities in industrialized
countries. Seeking an in-depth understanding of what happens
in the human body involving cardiovascular disease leads to
investigation of the system using cardiovascular model. The
objective of this work is to develop and analyze a model of the
human cardiovascular system capable of simulating normal
cardiac operation based on circuit analogy. To simulate the
entire cardiovascular system, the models are divided to into
three sub-systems: pulmonary circuit, cardiac circuit (consisting
of left and right heart circuits) and systemic circuit. Modeling
hemodynamics of blood flow circulation uses an electric circuit
analogy called the lumped parameter method. Parameters of the Figure 1. Cardiovascular system block diagram
model have been extracted from existing literature. Based on a
previous model, the present work analyzes pumping
characteristics of the cardiovascular system with 1 and 3 AC
sources. It also investigates contraction of arterial
characteristics when added at the right and left atriums.
Simulation results are found to be in good agreement with
biological data.
Keywords—human cardiovascular system, cardiac output,
circuit modeling, analog circuit analogy, lumped parameter.

I. INTRODUCTION
To date, cardiovascular disease is considered one of the main
diseases that contribute to mortalities and morbidities
especially in industrial countries [1]. Cardiovascular system
is also referred as circulatory systems. The function is
delivering oxygen and nutrients to body cells. It also carries
waste products to organs that are responsible to eliminate
Figure 2. Biological heart circulation diagram (blue and red colors
them. The cardiovascular system consists of the heart and indicate deoxygenated and oxygenated blood respectively) [4]
blood vessels which are of two types: arteries which work to
carry oxygenated blood from the heart to the rest of the In Fig. 2, it can be seen that the heart circulation cycle
human body, and veins which work to carry deoxygenated begins by collecting deoxygenated blood from the superior
blood back to the heart. vena cava to the right atrium and into the right ventricle by
The hemodynamics of cardiovascular flow can be divided passing through the pulmonary valve. Then blood is pump out
into two models: cardiac model and blood vessel network. from the right ventricle pumps through the tricuspid valve
The latter can be further divided into pulmonary circuit and into the pulmonary artery which goes to the pulmonary circuit
systemic circuit. The cardiac model includes the equivalent where the carbon dioxide is released from the blood. Fresh
circuits of the atrium, and the left and right ventricles, which oxygen that is breathed in enters the blood from the
are responsible for pumping and contraction characteristics of pulmonary vein, into the left atrium and the left ventricle by
the heart sy stem [2]. The pulmonary model refers to the passing through the mitral valve. Finally, the left ventricle
pulmonary circulation from heart to lung and back to the heart. pumps the blood to the aorta by passing through the aortic
The systemic model refers to the systemic circulation which valve, delivering oxygenated blood to the entire body. This is
starts from the heart with oxygenated blood, carried to the the biological circulation structure of the heart system [5].
entire body and cells, and returns to the heart with
deoxygenated blood [3]. This entire cycle of heart system is
shown in Fig. 1.

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 Figure 3. Graph of pressure versus time for one cardiac cycle [6]
The phase of the whole cardiac cycle of heart rate is
considered as 75 beats per minute and the length of a cardiac
cycle is 0.8 seconds. The cardiac cycle, as shown in Fig. 3
and Fig. 4, has several stages as explained below:
1) The cycle begins with all four chambers relaxed and the
ventricle is partially filled with blood. This stage is
called late diastole condition,
2) the next stage is atrial systole condition, where the atria
contracts and twenty percent of blood begins filling up
the ventricles,
3) next is ventricular systole at first phase condition, also
called isovolumetric ventricular contraction, in which
the artrioventricular valve (AV) closes and causes
pressure to build up,
4) the fourth stage is ventricular systole at second phase,
or ventricular ejection condition, in which the
ventricular pressure rises along with pressure in the
arteries. The semi-lunar valve opens and blood is forced
out,
5) finally, at ventricular relaxation condition, the ventricle
relaxes and the pressure drops, causing blood to flow
back into cups of semi-lunar valve and snapping them
closed. The AV valve opens and blood starts refilling,
bringing the cycle back to the first stage.
Central Aortic Systolic blood pressure (SBP) is pressure in
the blood vessels when the heart contracts. For the left
ventricle the nominal value is 120 mmHg. Central Aortic
Diastolic blood pressure (DBP) is pressure in the blood
vessels when the heart relaxes and the normal value is 80
mmHg. Fig. 4 shows the arterial pulse pressure waveform.
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Figure 4. Arterial pulse pressure waveform [7]
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
In the past few decades, researcher who is focusing on the
study of various normal and pathological conditions of
cardiovascular system (CVS) has been using lumped-
parameter. This models are computationally less expensive,
structured in a very simple manner and sufficient to explain
the physics of real-world problems. Most of the researcher
also have been using lumped parameter model or also known
as zero dimensional model (0D) to mimic and shows the
relationship between blood pressure and flow in the human
circulatory system.
Changing parameters of the lumped-parameter models
gives insight to the behavior of the whole or partial CVS. The
CVS model consists of two major parts: hemodynamic
system and autonomic nerve control [8]. Hemodynamics of
vessels can be represented by the relationship between blood
pressure and flow rate in the vascular system. In the lumped
model, hemodynamic parameters of the CVS are expressed
as a series of equivalent elements of an analog electric circuit
as shown in Fig. 5.
Figure 5. The cardiovascular system represented by an analog
electrical circuit (lumped-parameter model)
 The differential equation for mass conservation in steady- of the recent works, for example [12] - [14], have expanded
state flow using Kirchhoff’s voltage law into each vessel node upon this model, by increasing more segments at the arterial
in the lumped parameter hemodynamic model is defined as system in the cardiovascular up to 150 RLC segments. The
below. work in [15] has developed a cardiovascular system using 42
segmented arterial systems. It has been identified that the
The change in volume over change in time (L/min):
input at the artificial pacemaker is modeled by a superposition
= ,
of three AC supplies with diodes as shown in Fig. 8. Most of
the recent works based on this model still use 42 segmented
(1) arterial segments while the application is more towards
and the flow rate is given by: reviewing pathological condition such as aneurysm, stenosis,
tachycardia, bradycardia and others [16] - [19].
= . In both circuits, the venous system at the atrium is
(2) simulated without atrium is simulated without any
P is pressure in units of mmHg and R is resistance in contraction. A subsequent model in the work of [20] has
Ohms [9]. In the model, only one set of equations is necessary included the model of arterial contraction, as shown in Fig. 9,
to model for blood flow throughout the whole circulatory which was not implemented in previous models. The arterial
system since the model is using only one series combination contraction is included because activity on the left and right
of RLC components to pass through. atrium can gain more information about underlying cardiac
conditions.
The lumped-parameter model works by obtaining a new
volume from the differential equation above, and calculating
pressure using the equation P = V/C (again assuming steady
flow). Application of this pressure formula to other nodes in
the CVS model enables the solution of lumped information
of the cardiac hemodynamics [10].
To really understand the structure of modeling of the
cardiovascular system, a study is performed on how the heart
model is developed. The reason to focus only on the heart
section is because the heart modeling is where the important
characteristics appear since the heart is the source of blood
circulation. It is where the pumping chambers are located and
the blood vessel network is calculated with the total
compliance value. The more compartments are added to the
model, the more precise is the modeling. In recent literature,
several models of equivalent electronic circuits for the Figure 7. Pacemaker model with single AC voltage supply as input to
cardiovascular system have been developed, using the the right (A) and left (B) ventricles
electrical analogy and lumped method [11].

(a)

Figure 8. Pacemaker model with three AC voltage supplies for energy of

systolic contraction at right (A) and left (B) ventricles
(b)

Figure 6. Example of electric circuit analogy: (a) hemodynamic

elements for blood flow and (b) equivalent electric circuit [9]
The author has developed a 36-vessel model of the
cardiovascular system. The model uses a single AC source
as input of the artificial pacemaker, as shown in Fig. 7. Most

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 Left Atrium
Mitral Valve Aortic Valve It is known that resistance to flow through a vessel depends
D1 Left Ventricle D2
1 2 R2 3 L1 4 on several factors as below [24]:
500Ω 100nH
SD41 SD41
C2 = ,
25uF
C1 (3)
100uF R1 0
500Ω R3 where μ is blood viscosity, l is length and A is cross section
500Ω
area of each artery segment. The blood inertia can be
0 6 V1 5 V2 calculated with the blood vessel length l, blood density ρ, and
120 Vrms 120 Vrms
the cross-sectional area A of the vessel:
1 Hz 1 Hz
0° 0° = .
0 0
(4)
The vessel compliance C is calculated as follows:
Figure 9. Pacemaker model with single voltage supply at the left ventricle and
arterial contraction at the left atrium
=
Reviewing the related papers modelling various (5)
pathalogical condition with the usage of lumped-parameter
approach using equivalent electrical circuit presented, these where r, E and h are the radius, elasticity module and
3 models have been studied and analyzed. Recent works in thickness of the arteries respectively.
[21] - [22] use the same approach and are tuned according to One resistance, one capacitor, and one inductor is included
the field of application. in each vessel that are modeled by some compartments. Using
equations 1, 2, and 3, the quantities of compartment elements
III. MODELING PRINCIPLES are easily calculated. Using more compartments to model the
arteries will increase the accuracy. The heart valves are
Each part of the body has different properties such as blood
vessel, arteries and the heart. Thus, the arterial network has modeled by using appropriate diodes, because a valve acts
different equivalent electrical elements to represent the like a diode which only allows blood to flow in one direction
behaviors. A vessel segment in lumped parameter approach [25]. This is important in the cardiovascular system as inverse
is represented as an electrical equivalent circuit consisting of flow is not permissible.
voltage, current charge, resistance, capacitance and This paper reviews the basic cardiovascular model
inductance. These electrical circuit parameters are consisting of the cardiac model, pulmonary circuit and
respectively equivalent to blood pressure, blood flow, volume, systemic circuit. Based on existing works, the characteristics
resistance, compliance and flow inertia in the system [23]. of heart modeling are investigated by analyzing the artificial
Representation of electrical components and the pacemaker at left and right pumping chamber and also
corresponding cardiovascular parameters are listed in Table contraction characteristics at the atrium. The first objective is
1. to compare the pacemaker output with 1 and 3 AC usage
without adding the contraction characteristic at the atrium.
Table 1. Representation of electrical component and cardiovascular
parameter
The second objective is to study the output effects when
contraction characteristics are added at the atrium. Results
Electrical Component Cardiovascular Parameter can then be validated by comparing with biological
Capacitance (F) Compliance, C (ml/Pa) waveforms.
Resistance (Ω) Resistance, R (Pa.s/ml)
Current flow (A) Blood Flow, Q (ml/s) IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Potential difference (V) Pressure, P (mmHg)
Inductance (L) Blood inertia, L (Pa. /ml) Fig. 10 shows the arterial pulse waveform using the model
with single AC power supply as the source at the artificial
The relation between properties of the arterial network to pacemaker of left ventricle. It shows a smooth sinusoidal
the equivalent electrical parameters are given below [2]: waveform with a maximum voltage of 120V at the input.
0.01 ml/Pa = 1 μF (compliance – capacitance) Fig. 11 shows the waveform using the model with 3 AC
power supplies as the source at the artificial pacemaker of left
1 Pa.s/ml = 1 kΩ (resistance – resistance)
ventricle. The peak voltage of left ventricle is at 120V. Figure
133,416 ml = 1 A (volume – current charge) 11 waveform is similar to the characteristic of an arterial
1 mmHg = 1 V (pressure – voltage) pulse waveform as shown in Fig. 4. It does have the curves of
1 Pa. /ml = 1 μH (inertia – inductance) the systolic peak and the dicrotic notch of the arterial pulse
waveform.

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 Figure 10. Input pressure with single AC source at the
pacemaker of left ventricle
Figure 11. Input pressure with 3 AC sources at the
pacemaker of left ventricle
Fig. 12 shows waveform results of the left ventricle
pressure output using 3 AC power supplies (in yellow) and
another using 1 AC power supply (in red). For the circuit
without adding the arterial contraction, we can observe either
from waveform with 1 AC source or 3 AC sources that after
the first cycle, the second cycle value becomes lower (as can
be seen in Fig. 12). This is because, there is no diode attached
to the input of the pacemaker to avoid any backflow of current.
The waveforms also show that the maximum value of 120V
did not occur for both models.
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Figure 12. Comparison of circuits with 3 AC sources (yellow) and 1 AC
source (red) at left ventricle
Figure 13. Comparison of circuits with 3 AC sources (green) and 1 AC
source (red) at left ventricle with arterial contraction at both atriums
Fig. 13 shows waveform results of the left ventricle
pressure using 3 AC power supplies (in green) and another
using 1 AC power supply (in red), with additional arterial
contraction at both sides of the atrium. From observation, it
can be seen that the waveform in green has a faster rise time
compared to the waveform in red. This indicates that the
network with 3 AC power sources has a faster rise time
compared to the network with single AC power supply. We
can also observe in Fig. 13 that the circuit with the added
arterial contraction reaches the maximum voltage of 120V
similar to the biological characteristics. It also shows a very
stable waveform after the first cycle, continuing to the second
and third cycles, even without using any diode to prevent
reverse current flow.
 VI. CONCLUSION
The electrical equivalent circuit is proven to be a reliable
modeling technique for the human cardiovascular system
using RLC circuit components. The concept uses the RLC
components as representation of cardiovascular parameters
and the output waveforms are found to be in accordance with
the biological reference. Analysis on the cardiac pumping
system can be seen from the input of the artificial pacemaker
of the circuit and can be observed from the left ventricle
pressure results. From the observation, it can be concluded
that the circuit model with 3 AC sources has faster rise time
compared to the model with a single AC source. When
contractility component is added at the arterial part of the
circuit, it becomes more stable even without using any diode
to prevent reverse current flow. Analysis of waveforms at the
pumping component shows promising results when
compared with waveforms of biological cardiovascular
network. The potential of expanding the circuit to include
more segments are expected to improve the network
modeling, which can be used for analysis of pathological
conditions such as diseases.
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