Propagation of harmonic waves in an initially stressed thin elastic tube filled with an inviscid fluid

This article presents a theoretical analysis for the wave propagation in a thin walled prestressed elastic tube filled with an inviscid fluid. Considering the blood flow in human artery and its physiological conditions, the tube is assumed to be initially subjected to a mean pressure P-i and the axial stretch lambda(z). The governing equations of the tube and the fluid are obtained by adding a small incremental disturbance on this initial field. In the formulation, the interaction between the blood and its container is taken into account. A harmonic wave type of solution is sought for the field equations, and the associated dispersion relation is obtained by using appropriate boundary conditions. Some special cases as well as a general case are thoroughly discussed and the results of the present formulation is compared with those of the relevant literature.