Numerical analysis of non‐Newtonian blood flow and wall shear stress in realistic single, double and triple aorto‐coronary bypasses

Abstract

Considering the fact that hemodynamics plays an important role in the patency and overall performance of implanted bypass grafts, this work presents a numerical investigation of pulsatile non-Newtonian blood flow in three different patient-specific aorto-coronary bypasses. The three bypass models are distinguished from each other by the number of distal side-to-side and end-to-side anastomoses and denoted as single, double and triple bypasses. The mathematical model in the form of time-dependent nonlinear system of incompressible Navier-Stokes equations is coupled with the Carreau-Yasuda model describing the shear-thinning property of human blood and numerically solved using the principle of the SIMPLE algorithm and cell-centred finite volume method formulated for hybrid unstructured tetrahedral grids. The numerical results computed for non-Newtonian and Newtonian blood flow in the three aorto-coronary bypasses are compared and analysed with emphasis placed on the distribution of cycle-averaged wall shear stress and oscillatory shear index. As shown in this study, the non-Newtonian blood flow in all of the considered bypass models does not significantly differ from the Newtonian one. Our observations further suggest that, especially in the case of sequential grafts, the resulting flow field and shear stimulation are strongly influenced by the diameter of the vessels involved in the bypassing.