How the model works
Pulse amplification, transit delay and damping are display measurements, not new diseases.
The peripheral arterial line is derived from central aortic pressure with representative transit and pulse amplification. Central and peripheral systolic/pulse pressures can differ while their mean pressures remain close in the model.
Overdamping and underdamping are applied to the recording, separately from the patient’s circulation. Selecting a transducer artifact does not change true forward output, ventricular loading or a valve lesion.
The peripheral model modifies pulsatile content and timing, with disease/support-specific limits. Low-output and continuous-flow traces are not normalized to a healthy pulse height. Central pressure remains the reference for LV–aortic gradients.
Amplification is a representative transfer relationship, not an arterial tree with measured age, stiffness, catheter site or wave-reflection distances. Femoral pressure in the Carabello study serves a separate comparison.
A unity-DC-gain second-order filter illustrates catheter/transducer response. Overdamped settings use a 3 Hz natural frequency and damping ratio 1.6; underdamped settings use 6 Hz and 0.14. Filtering runs at 500 Hz in deterministic two-second chunks with a four-second warm-up. These settings are teaching choices, not clinical device calibration.
Overdamping rounds the upstroke, reduces peaks and raises troughs. Underdamping rings and exaggerates extrema. A constant pressure remains constant; the filter’s purpose is to preserve the mean/DC component while changing dynamic detail.
Compare the artifact with a correctly damped reference before interpreting a narrow or exaggerated pulse pressure. The simulator does not model all tubing lengths, air bubbles, catheter whip, flushing technique, zeroing errors or frequency-response tests.
