An unsteady analysis of non-Newtonian blood flow through tapered arteries with a stenosis

The problem of non-Newtonian and nonlinear blood flow through a stenosed artery is solved numerically where the non-Newtonian rheology of the flowing blood is characterised by the generalised Power-law model. An improved shape of the time-variant stenosis present in the tapered arterial lumen is given mathematically in order to update resemblance to the in vivo situation. The vascular wall deformability is taken to be elastic (moving wall), however a comparison has been made with nonlinear visco-elastic wall motion. Finite difference scheme has been used to solve the unsteady nonlinear Navier-Stokes equations in cylindrical coordinates system governing flow assuming axial symmetry under laminar flow condition so that the problem effectively becomes two-dimensional. The present analytical treatment bears the potential to calculate the rate of flow, the resistive impedance and the wall shear stress with minor significance of computational complexity by exploiting the appropriate physically realistic prescribed conditions. The model is also employed to study the effects of the taper angle, wall deformation, severity of the stenosis within its fixed length, steeper stenosis of the same severity, nonlinearity and non-Newtonian rheology of the flowing blood on the flow field. An extensive quantitative analysis is performed through numerical computations of the desired quantities having physiological relevance through their graphical representations so as to validate the applicability of the present model.     

Longitudinal diffusion in a flow through a tube

The results of research concerned with a fluid mixing during the movement in a tube, are given. A method of definining the one-dimension theory of matter transfer, accounting for the difference of mixture component velocities is presented. The longitudinal transfer in a zone of “passive” fluids contact is discussed in detail. It has been possible to formulate the theory, which generalises the well-known Taylor and Aris models. The theory presented is based on the integro-differential equation, accounting for the delay effects. It has been possible to describe the experimental facts, which had no explanation so far, in bounds of the given theory.     

Stokes flow through a permeable tube

Pressure-driven Stokes flow through a circular tube with a permeable wall is considered as a model of blood flow through a capillary vessel. Fluid penetrates the tube wall over a test section according to Starling law relating the normal fluid velocity to the transmural pressure defined as the difference between the wall and the uniform ambient pressure. The problem is formulated using the integral representation for Stokes flow, and the solution is computed with high accuracy using a boundary-element method for specified values of the wall permeability and percentage of fluid escaping through the walls. The results illustrate the structure of the flow and validate the predictions of a model based on the assumption of locally unidirectional flow for sufficiently small permeability.     

Unsteady dissipative structures in non-Newtonian fluid flow through a porous medium

The nonuniform space-time pressure and velocity distributions in an initially nonempty stratum with constant initial pressure created by pumping a non-Newtonian fluid through the boundary of the stratum are investigated. The injected fluid and the fluid present in the stratum before injection have identical physical properties. The conditions of formation of traveling fronts and localized structures are analyzed as functions of the nonlinearity of the rheological law of the fluid and the injection regime.Baku. Translated from Izvestiya Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 6, pp. 106–112, November–December, 1994.     

Boundary layer development of pulsatile blood flow in a tapered vessel

Assuming that the tapered angle is small,the problems of developing flow under unsteady oscillatory condition are studied in this paper.The formula of velocity distribution is obtained.The analyses for the results show that the blood flow in a converging tapered vessel remains a developing flow throughout the length,and the effects of tapered angle on the developing flow are increased with the increment of the tapered angle.     

Nonlinear waves in fluid flow through a viscoelastic tube

A system of nonlinear equations for describing the perturbations of the pressure and radius in fluid flow through a viscoelastic tube is derived. A differential relation between the pressure and the radius of a viscoelastic tube through which fluid flows is obtained. Nonlinear evolutionary equations for describing perturbations of the pressure and radius in fluid flow are derived. It is shown that the Burgers equation, the Korteweg-de Vries equation, and the nonlinear fourth-order evolutionary equation can be used for describing the pressure pulses on various scales. Exact solutions of the equations obtained are discussed. The numerical solutions described by the Burgers equation and the nonlinear fourth-order evolutionary equation are compared.     

Generalized flow analysis of non-Newtonian visco-elastic fluid flow through fractal reservoir

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Numerical simulation of the non-Newtonian blood flow through a mechanical aortic valve

This work focuses on the comparison between Newtonian and non-Newtonian blood flows through a bileaflet mechanical heart valve in the aortic root. The blood, in fact, is a concentrated suspension of cells, mainly red blood cells, in a Newtonian matrix, the plasma, and consequently its overall behavior is that of a non-Newtonian fluid owing to the action of the cells’ membrane on the fluid part. The common practice, however, assumes the blood in large vessels as a Newtonian fluid since the shear rate is generally high and the effective viscosity becomes independent of the former. In this paper, we show that this is not always the case even in the aorta, the largest artery of the systemic circulation, owing to the pulsatile and transitional nature of the flow. Unexpectedly, for most of the pulsating cycle and in a large part of the fluid volume, the shear rate is smaller than the threshold level for the blood to display a constant effective viscosity and its shear thinning character might affect the system dynamics. A direct inspection of the various flow features has shown that the valve dynamics, the transvalvular pressure drop and the large-scale features of the flow are very similar for the Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluid models. On the other hand, the mechanical damage of the red blood cells (hemolysis), induced by the altered stress values in the flow, is larger for the non-Newtonian fluid model than for the Newtonian one.     

Asymptotic Nusselt numbers for dissipative non-Newtonian flow through ducts

General expressions for fully developed temperature profiles and Nusselt numbers are obtained for heat transfer to non-Newtonian fluid flow between parallel plates and through circular pipes subjected to a uniform wall heat flux. The effect of viscous dissipation is taken into account since it may often be significant in the flow of non-Newtonian fluids. Asymptotic Nusselt numbers for three widely used models, i.e. the power law fluid, the Bingham plastic, and the Ellis fluid are obtained as specific results.     

Heat transfer to non-Newtonian fluids in laminar flow through rectangular ducts

Heat transfer to non-newtonian fluids flowing laminarly through rectangular ducts is examined. The conservation equations of mass, momentum, and energy are solved numerically with the aid of a finite volume technique. The viscoelastic behavior of the fluid is represented by the Criminale-Ericksen-Filbey (CEF) constitutive equation. Secondary flows occur due to the elastic behavior of the fluid, and, consequently, heat transfer is strongly enhanced. It is observed that shear thinning yields negligible heat transfer enhancement effect, when compared with the secondary flow effect. Maximum heat transfer is shown to occur for some combinations of parameters. Thus, there are optimal combinations of aspect ratio and Reynolds numbers, which depend on the fluid's mechanical behavior. This result can be usefully explored in thermal designs of certain industrial processes.     

Hydrothermal analysis of non-Newtonian fluid flow (blood) through the circular tube under prescribed non-uniform wall heat flux

The present article aims to investigate the Graetz-Nusselt problem for blood as a non-Newtonian fluid obeying the power-law constitutive equation and flowing inside the axisymmetric tube subjected to non-uniform surface heat flux. After the flow field is determined by solving the continuity and the momentum equations, the energy equation is handled by employing the separation of variables method. The resulting Eigen functions and Eigen values are numerically calculated using MATLAB built-in solver BVP4C. The analysis is first conducted for the situation of constant heat flux and subsequently generalized to apply to the case of sinusoidal variation of wall heat flux along the tube length, using Duhamel's Theorem. Furthermore, an approximate analytic solution is determined, employing an integral approach to solve the boundary layer equations. With respect to the comparison, the results of approximate solution display acceptable congruence with those of exact solution with an average error of 7.4%. Interestingly, with decreasing the power-law index, the discrepancy between the two presented methods significantly reduces. Eventually, the influences of the controlling parameters such as surface heat flux and power-law index on the non-Newtonian fluid flow's thermal characteristics and structure are elaborately discussed. It is found that switching from constant wall heat flux to non-uniform wall heat flux that sinusoidally varies along the tube length significantly improves the simulation's accuracy due to the better characterization of the heat transport phenomenon in non-Newtonian fluid flow through the tube. In the presence of sinusoidally varying wall heat flux with an amplitude of 200 W/m²and when the power-law index is 0.25, the maximum arterial wall temperature is found to be about 311.56 K.     

The micropolar fluid model for blood flow through a tapered artery with a stenosis

A micropolar model for axisymmetric blood flow through an axially nonsymmetreic but radially symmetric mild stenosis tapered artery is presented. To estimate the effect of the stenosis shape, a suitable geometry has been considered such that the axial shape of the stenosis can be changed easily just by varying a parameter （referred to as the shape parameter）. The model is also used to study the effect of the taper angle Ф. Flow parameters such as the velocity, the resistance to flow （the resistance impedance）, the wall shear stress distribution in the stenotic region and its magnitude at the maximum height of the stenosis （stenosis throat） have been computed for different values of the shape parameter n, the taper angle Ф, the coupling number N and the micropolar parameter m. It is shown that the resistance to flow decreases with increasing the shape parameter n and the micropolar parameter m while it increases with increasing the coupling number N. So, the magnitude of the resistance impedance is higher for a micropolar fluid than that for a Newtonian fluid model. Finally, the velocity profile, the wall shear stress distribution in the stenotic region and its magnitude at the maximum height of the stenosis are discussed for different values of the parameters involved on the problem.     

Peristaltic flow of a Johnson-Segalman fluid through a deformable tube

To understand theoretically the flow properties of physiological fluids we have considered as a model the peristaltic motion of a Johnson–Segalman fluid in a tube with a sinusoidal wave traveling down its wall. The perturbation solution for the stream function is obtained for large wavelength and small Weissenberg number. The expressions for the axial velocity, pressure gradient, and pressure rise per wavelength are also constructed. The general solution of the governing nonlinear partial differential equation is given using a transformation method. The numerical solution is also obtained and is compared with the perturbation solution. Numerical results are demonstrated for various values of the physical parameters of interest.      

Behaviors of flow mechanisms and heat transfer of non-Newtonian fluids through a spinneret

This investigation examines non-Newtonian flow mechanisms and heat transfer characteristics for a micro spinneret. The working fluid, Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), is the raw material of micro fiber, and a large-scale experimental test model was designed to visualize the complex viscous flow system in the micro spinneret. To visualize the complex convective flow system, an experimental test model was constructed, using glycerin instead of PET. The related parameters of PET were compared with those of glycerin. The power law correlates the shear strain with PET viscosity at various temperatures. The pressure distribution along the flow direction was measured and the flow pattern was visualized using polyethylene (PE) powder of 20–40 m. Similar configurations were calculated for micro spinneret physical parameters to determine the thermal flow characteristics. The Reynolds number in the test model is not less than 10^–2. In the non-Newtonian PET working fluid of practical micro spinneret, flows with Re = 10⁴ to 10^–2 are in the same low Reynolds number flow regime. Therefore, the working fluid is expected to have the same flow characteristic. A numerical solution covering the range of approximately Re = 10^–4 at PET confirms that the flow characteristics of glycerin are constant for Re = 1.228 × 10^–2. The Peclet number in the test model can be adjusted to a value similar to that in the micro spinneret. The flow visualization was compared with that of the numerical solution, and the friction factor and Nusselt number in the micro spinneret were analyzed. Finally, numerical results and friction factor with various exit angles of micro spinneret in a triangular zone flow system were also summarized.     

The viscous flow through a slightly distorted flexible tube

The high Reynolds number structure is examined for a viscous Newtonian flow through a thin axisymmetric flexible Hookean tube. Linear and nonlinear solutions are examined for a number of cases encompassing both large and small tube compliances. Particular cases studied are a flexible tube with a flexible stenosis/dilatation and a flexible tube supported between two rigid tubes. Novel vacillating free-interactions are identified at low tube compliances. These free-interfactions are believed to have application to general viscous-inviscid interactions. Solutions are also found which appear to terminate at a critical level of tube dilation for the slightly constricted tube.This study was supported by a National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award.