An analysis of pulsatile flow in a model aortic bifurcation

An appropriate geometry of the model aortic bifurcation in the presence of stenosis is developed in order to analyse the flow phenomenon in the bifurcated aorta owing to a pulsatile pressure gradient. The flow in this geometry is determined by the branching of the aorta and the existence of a reverse flow area in the daughter artery. The present analysis incorporates the arterial wall motion and its effect on local fluid mechanics. From the computational results one may disclose that the non-Newtonian rheology of blood does not change the flow patterns in the parent aorta, but their is a drastic change in their daughter artery, which in turn causes an appreciable increase in the shear stress on both the parent and its daughter arteries. The present geometry bears the potential for a better understanding of the flow characteristics in daughter arteries where a stationary zone is located near the outer wall and a flow separation in the inner wall vicinity. The agreement between the present results and the existing ones is found to be quite satisfactory.