Description
Biomedical engineering is a discipline that is multidisciplinary by definition. The days when medicine was left to the physicians, and engineering was left to the engineers, seem to have passed us by. I have searched for an undergraduate or graduate-level biomedical fluid mechanics textbook since I began teaching at Rose-Hulman in 1987. I looked for, but never found, a book that combined the physiology of the cardiovascular system with engineering of fluid mechanics and hematology to my satisfaction, so I agreed to write one.
This first attempt is published as a monograph on biomedical fluid mechanics, rather than as a textbook. The book does not include problem sets and a solution manual that traditionally accompany engineering textbooks. This work, however, will also form the basis of the next edition that is planned as a textbook.
Biofluid Mechanics in Cardiovascular Systems begins in Chapter 1 with a review of some of the basics of fluid mechanics that all mechanical or chemical engineers would learn. It continues with two chapters on cardiovascular and pulmonary physiology followed by a chapter describing hematology and blood rheology. These four chapters provide the foundation for the remainder of the book.
My 10-week, graduate-level, biofluid mechanics course forms the basis for the book. The course consists of 40 lectures and covers most, but not all, of the material contained in the book. The course is intended to prepare some students for work in the health care device industry and other for graduate work in biomedical engineering.
In spite of great effort on the part of many proofreaders, mistakes may appear in this book. I welcome suggestions for improvement from all readers, with intent to improve subsequent printings and editions.
Lee Waite