A Finite-Volume Method in General Curvilinear Coordinates for Simulation of Blood Flow Past a Stenosed Artery

Abstract

In this study, flow characteristics through symmetric stenosis artery are investigated. The shape of eccentricity for stenotic flows is limited by circular-cross sections and plaques are usually assumed as to be oriented concentrically. ThegoverningequationsaretheusualNavier-Stokesequationsandare numericallysolved by using finite volumemethod in arbitrary orthogonal curvilinear coordinates. In addition, three-dimensional elliptic grid is presented which the generating system is based on solution of a system of partial differential. To prevent serious distortion or overlapping of mesh lines, grid regularity is verified by some controlling parameter like Skewness value and maximum grid aspect ratio (MAR).The main objective of the present study is to investigate different degrees of the stenosis (45%, 55%, 65% and 75% by area reduction) and finding the critical one which play a significant role in the development of forming sediment in the wall of vessel. It is shown that the magnitude of inlet Reynolds number have strong relationship with the velocity, pressure and wall shear stress (WSS) distributions as expected. The most important conclusion obtained from our model is the high WSS and pressure drop which is exerted near the stenosed point and formation and development of large recirculation regions which found in the downstream of the stenosis, especially in the case of severe stenosis could create many pathological diseases