Viscoelastic blood flow through arterial stenosis—Effect of variable viscosity

Current theoretical investigation deals with mathematical model of unsteady non-Newtonian flow of blood through a stenosed artery. The flowing blood is considered as a viscoelastic fluid having shear-thinning rheology and characterized by generalised Oldroyd-B model. The arterial wall is considered to be rigid having cosine shaped stenosis in its lumen. The governing equations of motion accompanied by appropriate choice of the initial and boundary conditions are solved numerically by MAC (Marker and Cell) method and the results are checked for numerical stability with desired degree of accuracy. The quantitative analysis has been carried out finally which includes the respective profiles of the flow-field. The key factors like the wall shear stress and flow separation are also examined for further qualitative insight into the flow through arterial stenosis. The present results show quite consistency with several existing results in the literature which substantiate sufficiently to validate the applicability of the model under consideration.     

Mathematical modeling and parametric investigation of blood flow through a stenosis artery

In this study, a mathematical model is formulated to examine the blood flow through a cylindrical stenosed blood vessel. The stenosis disease is caused because of the abnormal narrowing of flow in the body. This narrowing causes serious health issues like heart attack and may decrease blood flow in the blood vessel. Mathematical modeling helps us analyze such issues. A mathematical model is considered in this study to explore the blood flow in a stenosis artery and is solved numerically with the finite difference method. The artery is an elastic cylindrical tube containing blood defined as a viscoelastic fluid. A complete parametric analysis has been done for the flow velocity to clarify the applicability of the defined problem. Moreover, the flow characteristics such as the impedance, the wall shear stress in the stenotic region, the shear stresses in the throat of the stenosis and at the critical stenosis height are discussed. The obtained results show that the intensity of the stenosis occurs mostly at the highest narrowing areas compared with all other areas of the vessel, which has a direct impact on the wall shear stress. It is also observed that the resistive impedance and wall shear pressure get the maximum values at the critical height of the stenosis.

     

Response of blood flow through an artery under stenotic conditions

This paper presents an analytical study on the behavoiur of blood flow in an artery having a stenosis. This is basically formulated through the use of a suitable mathematical model. The arterial segment under consideration is simulated by an anisotropically elastic cylindrical tube filled with a viscous incompressible fluid representing blood. The analysis is carried out for an artery with mild local narrowing in its lumen forming a stenosis. Particular emphasis has been paid to the effect of the surrounding connective tissues on the motion of the arterial wall. Blood is treated as a Newtonian fluid. The analysis is restricted to propagation of small amplitude harmonic waves, generated due to the flow of blood whose wave length is large compared to the radius of the arterial segment. The effect of the shape of stenosis on the resistance to blood flow has been well illustrated quantitatively through numerical computations of the resulting expressions. A quantitative analysis is also made for the variation of the phase velocity, as well as the velocity of wave propagation and the flow rate, in order to illustrate the applicability of the model.     

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.     

窦部对称狭窄对颈动脉内流场影响的数值研究

以颈动脉分岔血管为例，采用数值方法研究了窦部环缩狭窄之后的流场分布情况，并和正 常血管情况下的流场分布进行了比较. 结果表明，采用环缩方式给颈动脉分岔血管施加对称 的狭窄改变了颈动脉窦内流场，特别是壁面剪应力的分布规律. 低剪应力区出现在狭窄段之 后的窦内，并且沿整个周向均匀分布. 根据低剪应力和动脉粥样硬化的关系，指出： 若人为地给颈动脉窦内施加对称狭窄，则脂质沉积将在狭窄下游的窦内沿周向轴对称 发展. 为了更真实地反映颈动脉窦内的狭窄，建议根据动脉血管中的实际狭窄情况，采用非 对称的狭窄分布模式.     

弯曲狭窄管内血液流的分析

与血管狭窄有关的异常血液动力学特征在血管疾病的发生和发展过程中起着重要的作用,由于血管狭窄和弯曲的综合影响,将会出现一系列有趣的流体力学现象,本文研究具有对称狭窄的弯曲小动脉内定常血液流动,在一定的假设条件下,直接从支配血液流动的Navier-Stokes方程求出问题的摄动解,由此求得弯曲狭窄管內血液流动的轴向速度、二次流速度及压力梯度等分析表达式,并进一步求得轴向和周向血管壁切应力。本文的结果是先前有关狭窄直管和弯曲均匀管流动研究的拓广。     

Magnetohydrodynamic approach of non-Newtonian blood flow with magnetic particles in stenosed artery

The non-Newtonian blood flow, together with magnetic particles in a stenosed artery, is studied using a magneto-hydrodynamic approach. The wall slip condition is also considered. Approximate solutions are obtained in series forms under the assumption that the Womersley frequency parameter has small values. Using an integral transform method, analytical solutions for any values of the Womersley parameter are obtained.Numerical simulations are performed using MATHCAD to study the influence of stenosis and magnetic field on the flow parameters. When entering the stenosed area, blood velocity increases slightly, but increases considerably and reaches its maximum value in the stenosis throat. It is concluded that the magnitude of axial velocity varies considerably when the applied magnetic field is strong. The magnitude of maximum fluid velocity is high in the case of weak magnetic fields. This is due to the Lorentz's force that opposes motion of an electrically conducting fluid. The effect of externally transverse magnetic field is to decelerate the flow of blood. The shear stress consistently decreases in the presence of a magnetic field with increasing intensity.     

Effects of magnetic field,porosity, and wall properties for anisotropically elastic multi-stenosis arteries on blood flow characteristics

A mathematical model for blood flow through an elastic artery with multistenosis under the effect of a magnetic field in a porous medium is presented. The considered arterial segment is simulated by an anisotropically elastic cylindrical tube filled with a viscous incompressible electrically conducting fluid representing blood. An artery with mild local narrowing in its lumen forming a stenosis is analyzed. The effects of arterial wall parameters represent viscoelastic stresses along the longitudinal and circumferential directions T _t and T _θ , respectively. The degree of anisotropy of the vessel wall γ, total mass of the vessel, and surrounding tissues M and contributions of the viscous and elastic constraints to the total tethering C and K respectively on resistance impedance, wall shear stress distribution, and radial and axial velocities are illustrated. Also, the effects of the stenosis shape m, the constant of permeability X, the Hartmann number H _α and the maximum height of the stenosis size δ on the fluid flow characteristics are investigated. The results show that the flow is appreciably influenced by surrounding connective tissues of the arterial wall motion, and the degree of anisotropy of the vessel wall plays an important role in determining the material of the artery. Further, the wall shear stress distribution increases with increasing T _t and γ while decreases with increasing T _θ , M, C, and K. Transmission of the wall shear stress distribution and resistance impedance at the wall surface through a tethered tube are substantially lower than those through a free tube, while the shearing stress distribution at the stenosis throat has inverse characteristic through totally tethered and free tubes. The trapping bolus increases in size toward the line center of the tube as the permeability constant X increases and decreases with the Hartmann number Ha increased. Finally, the trapping bolus appears, gradually in the case of non-symmetric stenosis, and disappears in the case of symmetric stenosis. The size of trapped bolus for the stream lines in a free isotropic tube (i.e., a tube initially unstressed) is smaller than those in a tethered tube.     

Numerical simulation of mass transfer to micropolar fluid flow past a stenosed artery

A mathematical model of unsteady non‐Newtonian blood flow together with the mass transfer through constricted arteries has been developed. The mass transport refers to the movement of atherogenic molecules, i.e. blood‐borne components, such as low‐density lipoproteins from flowing blood into the arterial walls or vice versa. The flowing blood is represented as the suspension of all erythrocytes assumed to be Eringen's micropolar fluid and the arterial wall is considered to be rigid having cosine‐shaped stenosis in its lumen. The mass transfer to blood is controlled by the convection–diffusion equation. The governing equations of motion accompanied by the appropriate choice of the boundary conditions are solved numerically by Marker and Cell method and the results obtained are checked for numerical stability with the desired degree of accuracy. The quantitative analysis carried out finally includes the respective profiles of the flow‐field and the mass concentration along with their distributions over the entire arterial segment as well. The key factors, such as the wall shear stress and Sherwood number, are also examined for further quantitative insight into the flow and the mass transport phenomena through arterial stenosis. The present results show consistency with several existing results in the literature which substantiate sufficiently to validate the applicability of the model under consideration. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical simulation of the process of autoregulation of the arterial blood flow

For describing the autoregulation of the blood flow in an artery under constant transmural pressure a mathematical model that takes into account the multilayer structure of the arterial wall, the diffusion and kinetic processes in the wall, and the nonlinear viscoelastic properties of the wall material is proposed. The limiting case of a thin-walled artery is studied analytically. The arterial-wall viscosity range on which the equilibrium state of the system is stable is estimated. Accurate stationary distributions of the nitric oxide, calcium and myosin concentrations in the arterial wall are found. Numerical simulation of the autoregulation process demonstrated the possibility of arterial adaptation to radius perturbations, the existence of slow oscillations, and system transition to a new equilibrium state with change in blood flow level. The results are in good agreement with the experimental data.     

Two-phase non-linear model for blood flow in asymmetric and axisymmetric stenosed arteries

The pulsatile flow of a two-phase model for blood flow through axisymmetric and asymmetric stenosed narrow arteries is analyzed, treating blood as a two-phase model with the suspension of all the erythrocytes in the core region as the Herschel-Bulkley material and plasma in the peripheral layer as the Newtonian fluid. The perturbation method is applied to solve the resulting non-linear implicit system of partial differential equations. The expressions for various flow quantities are obtained. It is found that the pressure drop, plug core radius, wall shear stress increase as the yield stress or stenosis height increases. It is noted that the velocity increases, longitudinal impedance decreases as the amplitude increases. For asymmetric stenosis, the wall shear stress increases non-linearly with the increase of the axial distance. The estimates of the increase in longitudinal impedance to flow of the two-phase Herschel-Bulkley material are significantly lower than those of the single-phase Herschel-Bulkley material. The results show the advantages of two-phase flow over single-phase flow in small diameter arteries with stenosis.     

Pulsatile flow of Herschel-Bulkley fluid through stenosed arteries—A mathematical model

In this paper, the pulsatile flow of blood through stenosed artery is studied. The effects of pulsatility, stenosis and non-Newtonian behavior of blood, assuming the blood to be represented by Herschel-Bulkley fluid, are simultaneously considered. A perturbation method is used to analyze the flow assuming the thickness of plug core region to be non-uniform changing with axial distance. An expression for the variation of plug core radius with time and axial distance is obtained. The variation of pressure gradient with steady flow rate is given. Also the variation of wall shear stress distribution as well as resistance to flow with axial distance for different values of time and for different values of yield stress is given and the results analyzed.     

Mathematical modelling of couple stresses on fluid flow in constricted tapered artery in presence of slip velocity-effects of catheter

This paper explores the mathematical model for couple stress fluid flow through an annular region. The above model is used for studying the blood flow be-tween the clogged （stenotic） artery and the catheter. The asymmetric nature of the stenosis is considered. The closed form expressions for the physiological parameters such as impedance and shear stress at the wall are obtained. The effects of various geomet-ric parameters and the parameters arising out of the fluid considered are discussed by considering the slip velocity and tapering angle. The study of the above model is very significant as it has direct applications in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases.     

局部狭窄血管中血液振荡流的速度和切应力

本文建立一种分析局部缓慢狭窄血管中血液振荡流的数学模型，给出了血液的轴向流速，径向流速和切应力的包含压力梯度项的解析表达式，并讨论了血管内由局部狭窄引起的压力梯度沿轴向变化的规律。文章以局部余弦狭窄为例进行数值计算，详细讨论上游均匀管段压力梯度的定常部分和不同次谐波对狭窄管段内流速和切应力的影响。数值结果表明，与均匀管情况相比，在狭窄段内，血液振荡流轴向流速无论平均值还是脉动幅值均明显增大，且径向流速不再为零。但径向流速仍远小于轴向流速。同时，切应力也不再仅由轴向流速梯度提供，径向流速梯度也将产生切应力，但是在计算管壁切向上的切应力时，径向流速梯度的贡献仍相当大。与均匀管管壁切应力沿流运方向保持恒定不同。狭窄管管壁切应力（平均值和脉动值）将随着狭窄高度的增大而增大，在狭窄最大高度处达到最大，因而沿流动方向产生了较大的切应力梯度。     

动脉狭窄内低密度脂蛋白传输的数值研究：LDL的浓度极化现象

用计算机数值模拟的方法 ,对低密度脂蛋白 ( LDL)在动脉狭窄血管段内的质量传输进行了研究。计算结果表明 ,由于血管壁渗流的存在 ,LDL这样的脂质大分子会聚积在血管的内壁表面 ,发生一种工程上称为浓度极化的现象。LDL浓度在动脉狭窄口后的流动分离点出现峰值。该浓度峰值随雷诺数和动脉狭窄度的增加而呈逐渐下降的趋势。作者认为 ,该区域 LDL浓度的局部升高是引发动脉粥样硬化局部性和动脉狭窄产生的一个非常重要的原因。     

Numerical studies of blood flow in healthy,stenosed, and stented carotid arteries

Numerical analysis of pulsatile blood flow in healthy, stenosed, and stented carotid arteries is performed with the aim of identifying hemodynamic factors in the initiation, growth, and the potential of leading to severe occlusions of a diseased artery. The Immersed Finite Element Method is adopted for this study to conveniently incorporate various geometrical shapes of arteries without remeshing. Our computational results provide detailed quantitative analysis on the blood flow pattern, wall shear stress, particle residence time, and oscillatory shear index. The analysis of these parameters leads to a better understanding of blood clot formation and its localization in a stenosed and a stented carotid artery. A healthy artery is also studied to establish a baseline comparison. This analysis will assist in developing treatments for diseased arteries and novel stent designs to reduce restenosis. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of renal artery stenosis on realistic model of abdominal aorta and renal arteries incorporating fluid-structure interaction and pulsatile non-Newtonian blood flow

The effects of the renal artery stenosis(RAS) on the blood flow and vesselwalls are investigated.The pulsatile blood flow through an anatomically realistic model ofthe abdominal aorta and renal arteries reconstructed from CT-scan images is simulated,which incorporates the fluid-structure interaction(FSI).In addition to the investigationof the RAS effects on the wall shear stress and the displacement of the vessel wall,it isdetermined that the RAS leads to decrease in the renal mass flow.This may cause theactivation of the renin-angiotension system and results in severe hypertension.     

Oxygen transfer in human carotid artery bifurcation

Arterial bifurcations are places where blood flow may be disturbed and slow recirculation flow may occur. To reveal the correlation between local oxygen transfer and atherogenesis, a finite element method was employed to simulate the blood flow and the oxygen transfer in the human carotid artery bifurcation. Under steady-state flow conditions, the numerical simulation demonstrated a variation in local oxygen transfer at the bifurcation, showing that the convective condition in the disturbed flow region may produce uneven local oxygen transfer at the blood/wall interface. The disturbed blood flow with formation of slow eddies in the carotid sinus resulted in a depression in oxygen supply to the arterial wall at the entry of the sinus, which in turn may lead to an atherogenic response of the arterial wall, and contribute to the development of atherosclerotic stenosis there. The project supported by the National Natural Science Research Council of China (10632010, 10572017, 30670517).     

Non-Newtonian biomagnetic fluid flow through a stenosed bifurcated artery with a slip boundary condition

The effects of a velocity slip and an external magnetic field on the flow of biomagnetic fluid(blood) through a stenosed bifurcated artery are investigated by using ANSYS FLUENT. Blood is regarded as a non-Newtonian power-law fluid, and the magnetization and electrical conductivity are considered in the mathematical model.The no-slip condition is replaced by the first-order slip condition. The slip boundary condition and magnetic force are compiled in the solver by the user-defined function(UDF)...     

磁场和Hall电流对狭窄动脉中血液流动的影响

A micropolar model for blood simulating magnetohydrodynamic flow through a horizontally nonsymmetric but vertically symmetric artery with a mild stenosis is presented. To estimate the effect of the stenosis shape, a suitable geometry has been considered such that the horizontal shape of the stenosis can easily be changed just by varying a parameter referred to as the shape parameter. Flow parameters, such as 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 shape parameters, the Hartmann number and the Hall parameter. This shows that the resistance to flow decreases with the increasing values of the parameter determining the stenosis shape and the Hail parameter, while it increases with the increasing Hartmann number. The wall shear stress and the shearing stress on the wall at the maximum height of the stenosis possess an inverse characteristic to the resistance to flow with respect to any given value of the Hartmann number and the Hall parameter. Finally, the effect of the Hartmann number and the Hall parameter on the horizontal velocity is examined.