Effect of constriction height on flow separation in a two-dimensional channel

We studied numerically the effect of the constriction height on viscous flow separation past a two-dimensional channel with locally symmetric constrictions. A numerically stable scheme in primitive variables (velocity and pressure) for the solution of two-dimensional incompressible time-dependent Navier–Stokes equations is employed using finite-difference approximation in staggered grid. The wall shear stresses at different heights of the constriction are computed and presented graphically. It is noticed that the maximum stress and the length of the recirculating region associated with two shear layers of the constriction increase with the increase of the area reduction of the constriction. The critical Reynolds number for symmetry breaking bifurcation for the 50%, 60% and 70% area reduction are obtained numerically. The flow field separates after the symmetry breaking bifurcation and the symmetry of the flow depends on the Reynolds number and the height of the constriction.     

Investigation of physiological pulsatile flow in a model arterial stenosis using large-eddy and direct numerical simulations

Physiological pulsatile flow in a 3D model of arterial stenosis is investigated by using large eddy simulation (LES) technique. The computational domain chosen is a simple channel with a biological type stenosis formed eccentrically on the top wall. The physiological pulsation is generated at the inlet using the first harmonic of the Fourier series of pressure pulse. In LES, the large scale flows are resolved fully while the unresolved subgrid scale (SGS) motions are modelled using a localized dynamic model. Due to the narrowing of artery the pulsatile flow becomes transition-to-turbulent in the downstream region of the stenosis, where a high level of turbulent fluctuations is achieved, and some detailed information about the nature of these fluctuations are revealed through the investigation of the turbulent energy spectra. Transition-to-turbulent of the pulsatile flow in the post stenosis is examined through the various numerical results such as velocity, streamlines, velocity vectors, vortices, wall pressure and shear stresses, turbulent kinetic energy, and pressure gradient. A comparison of the LES results with the coarse DNS are given for the Reynolds number of 2000 in terms of the mean pressure, wall shear stress as well as the turbulent characteristics. The results show that the shear stress at the upper wall is low just prior to the centre of the stenosis, while it is maximum in the throat of the stenosis. But, at the immediate post stenotic region, the wall shear stress takes the oscillating form which is quite harmful to the blood cells and vessels. In addition, the pressure drops at the throat of the stenosis where the re-circulated flow region is created due to the adverse pressure gradient. The maximum turbulent kinetic energy is located at the post stenosis with the presence of the inertial sub-range region of slope −5/3.     

Laminar flow separation in an axi-symmetric sudden smooth expanded circular tube

This paper concerns with the investigation of laminar flow separation and its consequences in a tube over a smooth expansion under the axi-symmetric approximations. A co-ordinate stretching has been made to map the expanded tube into a straight tube. The two-dimensional unsteady Navier-Stokes equations are solved approximately by using primitive variables in staggered grid. A thorough quantitative analysis is performed through numerical simulations of the desired quantities such as wall shear stress, axial velocity, pressure distribution etc. These quantities are presented graphically and their consequences in the flow field are analysed in details. The dependence of the flow field on the physical parameter like expansion height d and on the Reynolds number has been investigated in details. It is interesting to note that the peak value of wall shear stress decreases with increasing height of expansion and also with the increasing Reynolds number.     

Nonlinear mathematical analysis for blood flow in a constricted artery under periodic body acceleration

This study analyses the pulsatile flow of blood through mild stenosed narrow arteries, treating the blood in the core region as a Casson fluid and the plasma in the peripheral layer as a Newtonian fluid. Perturbation method is employed to solve the resulting coupled implicit system of non-linear partial differential equations. The expressions for shear stress, velocity, wall shear stress, plug core radius, flow rate and longitudinal impedance to flow are obtained. The effects of pulsatility, stenosis depth, peripheral layer thickness, body acceleration and non-Newtonian behavior of blood on these flow quantities are discussed. It is noted that the plug core radius, wall shear stress and longitudinal impedance to flow increase as the yield stress and stenosis depth increase and they decrease with the increase of the body acceleration, pressure gradient, width of the peripheral layer thickness. It is observed that the plug flow velocity and flow rate increase with the increase of the pulsatile Reynolds number, body acceleration, pressure gradient and the width of the peripheral layer thickness and the reverse behavior is found when the yield stress, stenosis depth and lead angle increase. It is also recorded that the wall shear stress and longitudinal impedance to flow are considerably lower for the two-fluid Casson model than that of the single-fluid Casson model. It is found that the presence of body acceleration and peripheral layer influences the mean flow rate and mean velocity by increasing their magnitude significantly in the arteries.     

Effects of variable viscosity on pulsatile flow of blood in a tapered stenotic flexible artery

The objective of the present study is to investigate the effects of variable viscosity on incompressible laminar pulsatile flow of blood through an overlapping doubly constricted tapered artery. To mimic the realistic situation, wall of the artery is taken to be flexible, and physiologically relevant pulsatile flow is introduced. The governing equations of blood flow are made dimensionless. A coordinate transformation is used to make the overlapping doubly constricted wall geometry of tube to a straight tube. Taking advantage of the Stream function–Vorticity formulation, the system of partial differential equations is then solved numerically by finite difference approximations. Effects of Reynolds number, Strouhal number, degree of contraction, tapering angle, and viscosity parameters are presented graphically and analyzed. The results show that formation of stenosis and tapering disturb the flow field significantly, and degree of stenosis is more important in influencing blood flow compared with tapering.     

Non-Newtonian characteristics of peristaltic flow of blood in micro-vessels

Of concern in the paper is a generalized theoretical study of the non-Newtonian characteristics of peristaltic flow of blood through micro-vessels, e.g. arterioles. The vessel is considered to be of variable cross-section and blood to be a Herschel–Bulkley type of fluid. The progressive wave front of the peristaltic flow is supposed sinusoidal/straight section dominated (SSD) (expansion/contraction type); Reynolds number is considered to be small with reference to blood flow in the micro-circulatory system. The equations that govern the non-Newtonian peristaltic flow of blood are considered to be non-linear. The objective of the study has been to examine the effect of amplitude ratio, mean pressure gradient, yield stress and the power law index on the velocity distribution, wall shear stress, streamline pattern and trapping. It is observed that the numerical estimates for the aforesaid quantities in the case of peristaltic transport of blood in a channel are much different from those for flow in an axisymmetric vessel of circular cross-section. The study further shows that peristaltic pumping, flow velocity and wall shear stress are significantly altered due to the non-uniformity of the cross-sectional radius of blood vessels of the micro-circulatory system. Moreover, the magnitude of the amplitude ratio and the value of the fluid index are important parameters that affect the flow behaviour. Novel features of SSD wave propagation that affect the flow behaviour of blood have also been discussed.     

Analysis of blood flow through a modelled artery with an aneurysm

The intention of the present work is to carry out a systematic analysis of flow features in a tube, modelled as artery, having a local aneurysm in presence of haematocrit. The arterial model is treated to be axi-symmetric and rigid. The blood, flowing through the modelled artery, is treated to be Newtonian and non-homogeneous. For a thorough quantitative analysis of the flow characteristics such as wall pressure, flow velocity, wall shear stress, the unsteady incompressible Navier-Stokes equations in cylindrical polar co-ordinates under the laminar flow conditions are solved by using the finite-difference method. Finally, the numerical illustrations presented in this paper provide an effective measure to estimate the combined influence of haematocrit and aneurysm on flow characteristics. It is found that the magnitude of wall shear stress and also the length of separation increase with increasing values of the haematocrit parameter. The length of flow separation increases but the peak value of wall shear stress decreases with the increasing length of aneurysm. The peak value of wall shear stress as well as the length of separation increases with the increasing height of the aneurysm.     

Application of double decomposition to pulsatile flow

The present investigation deals with the pulsatile flow of incompressible viscous fluid through a circular rigid tube provided with constriction. The method applied here is the Decomposition Method, which has been developed by George Adomian [3]. The advantages of this method are the avoidance of simplifications and restrictions, which change the non-linear problem to mathematically tractable one, whose solution is not consistent with physical solution. Theoretically results, such as, wall shear stress and axial velocity component, have been obtained and the graphical solutions of these theoretical results have been shown in the figures.     

Mathematical modeling of pulsatile flow of non-Newtonian fluid in stenosed arteries

The pulsatile flow of blood through mild stenosed artery is studied. The effects of pulsatility, stenosis and non-Newtonian behavior of blood, treating the blood as Herschel–Bulkley fluid, are simultaneously considered. A perturbation method is used to analyze the flow. The expressions for the shear stress, velocity, flow rate, wall shear stress, longitudinal impedance and the plug core radius have been obtained. The variations of these flow quantities with different parameters of the fluid have been analyzed. It is found that, the plug core radius, pressure drop and wall shear stress increase with the increase of yield stress or the stenosis height. The velocity and the wall shear stress increase considerably with the increase in the amplitude of the pressure drop. It is clear that for a given value of stenosis height and for the increasing values of the stenosis shape parameter from 3 to 6, there is a sharp increase in the impedance of the flow and also the plots are skewed to the right-hand side. It is observed that the estimates of the increase in the longitudinal impedance increase with the increase of the axial distance or with the increase of the stenosis height. The present study also brings out the effects of asymmetric of the stenosis on the flow quantities.     

Asymptotic study of turbulent Poiseuille flow with wall transpiration

An incompressible, pressure–driven, fully developed turbulent flow between two parallel walls, with an extra constant transverse velocity component, is considered. A closure condition is formulated, which relates the shear stress to the first and second derivatives of the longitudinal mean velocity. The closure condition is derived without invoking any special hypotheses on the nature of turbulent motion, only taking advantage of the fact that the flow depends on a finite number of governing parameters. By virtue of the closure condition, the momentum equation is reduced to the boundary–value problem for a second–order differential equation, which is solved by the method of matched asymptotic expansions at high values of the logarithm of the Reynolds number based on the friction velocity. A limiting transpiration velocity is obtained, such that the shear stress at the injection wall vanishes, while the maximum point on the velocity profile approaches the suction wall. In this case, a sublayer near the suction wall appears where the mean velocity is proportional to the square root of the distance from the wall. A friction law for Poiseuille flow with transpiration is found, which makes it possible to describe the relation between the wall shear stress, the Reynolds number, and the transpiration velocity by a function of one variable. A velocity defect law, which generalizes the classical law for the core region in a channel with impermeable walls to the case of transpiration, is also established. In similarity variables, the mean velocity profiles across the whole channel width outside viscous sublayers can be described by a one–parameter family of curves. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

T型分叉血管的定常/脉动流动和大分子传质

采用计算流体动力学方法,数值求解了T型分叉流动的定常/脉动流场和低密度脂蛋白(LDL)以及血清白蛋白(Albumin)的浓度分布。计算了雷诺数、主管和支管的流量比等参数对流场和大分子传质的影响,计算结果表明,流体动力学因素影响大分子的分布和跨壁渗透,在动脉硬化的发生和发展过程中起着重要的作用。在流动发生分离处,即支管入口外侧壁面剪应力变化最剧烈,这儿LDL和Albumin的壁面浓度变化也是最剧烈,是动脉硬化危险区。     

Jeffrey流体流过有限长圆柱管时磁流体动力学的蠕动流

研究Jeffrey流体流过有限长管道时的蠕动流.在外加磁场作用时,流体呈导电性.分析是在长波长和低Reynolds数近似假设下完成.得到了压力梯度、体积流量、平均体积流量和局部壁面剪应力的表达式.研究了松弛时间、延迟时间和Hartman数,对压力、局部壁面剪应力以及蠕动泵机械效率的影响.还研究了回流现象,调查了沿管道壁波数非整倍数时的传播情况,研究有限长管道传播的内在特性.     

Analysis of wavy flow and blood oxygenation in two-dimensional channels with constriction

A steady wavy incompressible Newtonian fluid flow in a channel with irregular surfaces is studied to understand the abnormal flow conditions caused by the boundary irregularities in diseased vessels. Analytical solutions are obtained under the assumption that the spread of the surface roughness to be large compared to the mean width of the channel. Expressions for the stream function, vorticity, the wall shear stress distribution and viscous energy loss per unit cycle are derived and the effects of various pertinent parameters upon them have been investigated for symmetric and non-symmetric channels with graphical representations. In order to determine the effects of the wall roughness upon the blood oxygenation in a membrane oxygenator, the haemodynamical solution is used. It is found that oxygen concentration increases with increase of channel constriction due to increase of cell-plasma and cell-cell interaction as well as waviness of flow field and this is predicted graphically.     

Stability of flow past cylinder cascade

The global stability analysis of the two–dimensional incompressible unsteady flow past a circular clinder cascade is studied using linear stability analysis. A new numerical technique is used to find the value of critical Reynolds number that causes the flow to undergo Hopf bifurcation. An attempt has also been made to study the blockage effect on critical Reynolds number and associated Strouhal number. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Determination of arterial wall shear stress

The arteries can remodel their structure and function to adapt themselves to the mechanical environment. In various factors that lead to vascular remodeling, the shear stress on the arterial wall induced by the blood flow is of great importance. However, there are many technique difficulties in measuring the wall shear stress directly at present. In this paper, through analyzing the pulsatile blood flow in arteries, a method has been proposed that can determine the wall shear stress quantitatively by measuring the velocity on the arterial axis, and that provides a necessary means to discuss the influence of arterial wall shear stress on vascular remodeling.     

冠状动脉狭窄情况下的非牛顿血液流动和大分子传质

针对冠状动脉狭窄的情况,采用数值模拟方法求解了牛顿流体与非牛顿流体(幂次律流体和Casson流体)的定常与脉动的流场。在此基础上,求解了LDL(低密度脂肪蛋白)和Albumin(血清白蛋白)的浓度场。根据计算结果,详细讨论了壁面剪应力、非牛顿流效应、分子大小等因素对大分子传质的影响;并对牛顿流体与非牛顿流体、定常流动与脉动流动的大分子浓度场进行了比较,这些结果对于了解动脉硬化成因与流动特性和大分子传质的联系提供了较为丰富的信息。     

Study of magnetohydrodynamic pulsatile flow in a constricted channel

The present work reports the study of steady and pulsatile flows of an electrically conducting fluid in a differently shaped locally constricted channel in presence of an external transverse uniform magnetic field. The governing nonlinear magnetohydrodynamic equations simplified for low conducting fluids are solved numerically by finite difference method using stream function-vorticity formulation. The analysis reveals that the flow separation region is diminished with increasing values of magnetic parameter. It is noticed that the increase in the magnetic field strength results in the progressive flattening of axial velocity. The variations of wall shear stress with increasing values of the magnetic parameter are shown for both steady and pulsatile flow conditions. The streamline and vorticity distributions in magnetohydrodynamic flow are also shown graphically and discussed.     

Magnetic field effects on Newtonian and non-Newtonian ferrofluid flow past a circular cylinder

The changes in the flow properties under the action of electromagnetic body forces are investigated numerically for ferrofluid flow past a circular cylinder. Ferrofluid is modeled as both a Newtonian and a non-Newtonian Power-Law fluid. Magnetic forces are applied by placing magnets at different locations on the surface of the cylinder. The magnetostatic effects on the structure of the wake region, on drag reduction and on vortex formation length and frequency are shown and compared in terms of Reynolds number, interaction parameter, Power-Law index and magnet location. It is shown that the increase in the interaction parameter reduces drag for both Newtonian and non-Newtonian model. This decrease is observed to be higher for shear thinning and lower for shear thickening fluid compared to Newtonian case. It is also shown that vortex street formation in the wake region behind the cylinder may be delayed under high magnetic effects. The Strouhal number is higher for shear thinning case at both low and high Reynolds numbers, and lower for shear thickening case at high Reynolds numbers, compared to Newtonian fluid. The vortex formation frequency also decreases under the action of the magnetic field in all cases, however the vortex formation length increases. Placing the magnet towards the front region of the cylinder increases considerably the drag coefficient for both Newtonian and non-Newtonian model. This increase in drag coefficient is higher in the shear thinning fluid and lower in the shear thickening fluid compared to the Newtonian case.     

Pulsatile flow of Herschel–Bulkley fluid through catheterized arteries – A mathematical model

The pulsatile flow of blood through catheterized artery has been studied in this paper by modeling blood as Herschel–Bulkley fluid and the catheter and artery as rigid coaxial circular cylinders. The Herschel–Bulkley fluid has two parameters, the yield stress θ and the power index n. Perturbation method is used to solve the resulting quasi-steady nonlinear coupled implicit system of differential equations. The effects of catheterization and non-Newtonian nature of blood on yield plane locations, velocity, flow rate, wall shear stress and longitudinal impedance of the artery are discussed. The existence of two yield plane locations is investigated and their dependence on yield stress θ, amplitude A, and time t are analyzed. The width of the plug core region increases with increasing value of yield stress at any time. The velocity and flow rate decrease, whereas wall shear stress and longitudinal impedance increase for increasing value of yield stress with other parameters held fixed. On the other hand, the velocity, flow rate and wall shear stress decrease but resistance to flow increases as the catheter radius ratio (ratio of catheter radius to vessel radius) increases with other parameters fixed. The results for power law fluid, Newtonian fluid and Bingham fluid are obtained as special cases from this model.     

Buoyant Poiseuille–Couette flow with viscous dissipation in a vertical channel

Steady combined forced and free convection is investigated in a vertical channel having a wall at rest and a moving wall subjected to a prescribed shear stress. The moving wall is thermally insulated, while the wall at rest is kept at a uniform temperature. The analysis deals with the fully–developed parallel flow regime. The governing equations yield a boundary value problem, that is solved analytically by employing a power series expansion of the velocity field with respect to the transverse coordinate. It is shown that the nonlinear interplay between buoyancy and viscous dissipation may determine the existence of dual solutions of the boundary value problem corresponding to fixed values of the applied shear stress on the moving wall and of the hydrodynamic pressure gradient. It is shown that a nontrivial fully separated flow may occur such that the hydrodynamic pressure gradient is zero and the shear stress vanishes on both walls. E. Magyari: On leave from Institute of Building Technology, ETH – Zürich