Numerical study of the behaviour of wall shear stress in pulsatile stenotic flows

Abstract

This paper presents a numerical study of pulsatile flow through an axisymmetric stenosed artery. Numerical calculations of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations were carried out in an axisymmetric geometry to investigate how the wall shear stress (WSS) is affected by varying levels of stenosis contractions and pulse periods (reduced velocity). It is found that the distribution and strength of the WSS is closely correlated with the position of the vortex ring formed at the stenosis. Each vortex ring generates high WSS at the stenosis walls and this high WSS propagate downstream with the vortex ring. As the vortex ring convects downstream, it loses its strength due to viscous effects and ..