Experimental investigation of the fluid–structure interaction in an elastic 180° curved vessel at laminar oscillating flow

Abstract

Fluid–structure interaction phenomena are extremely important when laminar flows through elastic vessels such as in biomedical flow problems are considered. In general, such elastic vessels are curved which is why an elastic 180° bend at a curvature ratio $$\delta = D/D_{\rm C} = 0.\bar{2}$$ defines the reference geometry in this study. It is the purpose of this study to compare the results with the steady flow through a 180° rigid pipe bend and to quantify the impact of the fluid–structure interaction on the overall flow pattern and the vessel deformation at oscillating fully developed entrance flow. The findings comprise velocity, pressure, and structure deformation measurements. The vessel dilatation amplitude was varied between 3.75 % and 7 % of the vessel diameter at Dean De and Womersley number Wo ranges of $$327\,\le\,De\,\le\,350$$ and $$7\,\le\,Wo\,\le\,8.$$ The flow is investigated by time-resolved stereoscopic particle-image velocimetry in five radial cross sections located in the elastic 180° bend and in the inlet pipes. The unsteady static vessel pressure is measured synchronously at these cross sections. The comparison of the steady with the unsteady flow field shows a strong change in the axial and secondary velocity distributions at periods of transition between the centrifugal forces and the unsteady inertia forces dominated regimes. These changes are characterized by asymmetric fluctuations of the centers of the counter-rotating vortex pair. The investigation of the impact of the structure deformation amplitude on these fluctuations reveals a significant attenuation at high deformation amplitudes. The spatial motion of the elastic vessel due to the forces applied by the flow exhibits amplitudes up to 15 % of the vessel diameter. Considering the fluid–structure interaction, an amplification of the volume flux amplitude by a factor of 2.1 at the vessel outlet and phase lags up to 30° occur. The static pressure distribution is characterized by a pronounced asymmetry between forward and backward flow with a 40 % higher peak magnitude at backward flow and phase lags of 35°. The results evidence that a strong distortion of the velocity distribution in the bend, which is caused by the oscillating nature of the flow, is reduced as a result of the fluid–structure interaction.