Bottleneck Analysis

Biological Parallel

In the mammalian circulatory system, blood flow is limited by the narrowest vessels—capillaries just 5-10 micrometers wide, where oxygen exchange occurs. Vascular systems evolved to match vessel diameter precisely to flow requirements; too narrow creates dangerous pressure, too wide wastes construction resources. Bottleneck analysis is vascular engineering: identify the constraint, measure its impact on system flow, then determine whether to widen it, bypass it, or accept it as an evolutionary tradeoff.