University of Rome Tor Vergata - Medical Engineering

MSSF Course - Caselli, F.

Physiological Systems Modeling and Simulation

Pulmonary ventilation is a critical operation both during surgery and for assisted or replacement ventilation of the patient.

This report proposes the analysis of a pulmonary mechanics model using an electrical analogy with an equivalent circuit consisting of resistors and capacitors. Such an electrical-mechanical analogy allows to analyze how the variation of lung parameters influences the ventilation in the case pressure-controlled ventilators and thus simulate the response of the pulmonary system to ventilation.

A mathematical model is also proposed for the implementation of a fan controlled by pressure with square wave, within the Simulink modeling environment, with graphic interface and user-selectable parameters.

Different pathological conditions are then simulated going to see how the variation of the lung compliance has the predominant effect. Small changes in the capacitance values are reflected in large variations in the volume of incoming air up to dangerous states for the patient himself.

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