Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER
1
Introduction
LEARNING OUTCOMES
1.
Identify basic engineering skills that will be
used in this course
3.
Review concepts of dimensions and units
2.
Describe the fields and the importance of
biomedical engineering, fluid mechanics,
and biofluid mechanics
1.1 NOTE TO STUDENTS ABOUT THE TEXTBOOK
The goal of this textbook is to clearly describe how fluid mechanics principles can be
applied to different biological systems. Classic fluid mechanics laws, which the reader
may be familiar with from a previous course in fluid mechanics (but will be reviewed in
Part 1 of this textbook), have been used extensively to describe the blood flow through the
vascular system for decades. One major goal for this textbook is to discuss how these laws
apply to varying biological systems. Part 2, Macrocirculation, and Part 3, Microcirculation,
focus on the application of these classic principles to the vascular system and develop
mathematical formulas and relationships to help the reader understand the fluid mecha-
nics associated with blood flow through blood vessels of various sizes. Part 4, Other
Biological Flows Within the Body, describes fluid flows through the lungs, eyes, diarthro-
ses joints, and kidneys, which are not traditionally covered in biofluid mechanics courses
but are very important biological flows in the human body. For the most part, the same
fluid mechanics principles can describe these flows with some slight modifications to
accurately depict the particular biological condition. Part 5, Experimental Techniques,
briefly highlights different procedures that are currently being used in biofluid mechanics
laboratories to elucidate flow characteristics. The aim for this textbook is to establish a
Search WWH ::
Custom Search