Numerical solution of the Pulsatile, non-Newtonian and turbulent blood flow in a patient specific elastic carotid artery

Abstract

The risk factor increases at the carotid bifurcation as a result of the changes in the flow of blood and phenomena such as flow separation, the rotational flow, and the effects of the shear stress induced by the walls, increasing the risk of injury. In this regard, using Fluent 16.2, the present study numerically simulates the pulsatile flow of the blood in a patient specific elastic carotid artery with physiological pulses and non-Newtonian and turbulent models. The result of wall shear stress showed that the being of rigid or elastic walls is much more important than that of the Newtonian or non-Newtonian blood, which in turn is more important than laminar or turbulent flow. Moreover by investigating Oscillatory Shear Index (OSI), it was found that the region prone to disease becomes larger as a Newtonian blood is assumed and that the k-ω model shows a larger area prone to disease compared with the k-ε model. In addition, the pressure contours showed that both pressure drop and critical pressure are higher in the k-ε and turbulent flow models in comparison with the k-ω and laminar flow models, respectively. By comparing various non-Newtonian models with the Newtonian one, it was found that the critical pressure is higher in the Carreau model compared with the Newtonian model where, in turn, it is higher than that in the Power-law model.