In this work we propose an algorithm for computing a stationary flow in a bifurcation tree. Our idea is to divide the tree into smaller basic blocks, each corresponding to one bifurcation, and solve a sequence of flow problems for the individual blocks. Numerical experiments demonstrate that the algorithm works well. We give a criteria for convergence that can be verified numerically and also an analytical convergence proof for an important special case.
The application we have in mind is the computation of the time dependent blood flow in the arterial tree of the human body. The work presented here is for a simplified case but we discuss the extension of our work to the realistic cases. Also potential applications are discussed.