Computational Fluid Mechanics of the Vortical Flow in Blood Vessel

Summary

As a result of the complex geometry of blood vessels involving multiplicity of branching, curved, elastic tubes and the viscosity and pulsation of blood fluid, blood flow in blood vessels within human body often shows a rich variety of vortical fluid dynamics. Hydrodynamically, factors dominating this vortical flow may be considered in three-fold: the moderate Reynolds number (several hundreds) where both viscosity and inertia turn to be comparably dominant; the pulsation of the blood flow that leads to periodic variation in acceleration; and the sudden change in geometry, e.g. the existence of the stenosis that may lead to separation. Such hemodynamic characteristics (blood-flow) enhances difficulties for us to understand detailed information of blood flow, which is important in determining the distribution of wall shear stress (WSS), a major factor in atherogenesis. The purpose of this study is to establish a robust and efficient computational fluid dynamic model, which is desired to be capable to accurately predict the vortical fluid mechanics in the blood vessels involving complex geometry and dynamics of the movement of the vessels. It is also aimed at deepening our understanding of some fundamental features of such kinds of vortical flows with application to the wall shear stress in arteries.