Pulsatile flow of non-Newtonian fluids through arterial stenoses

Abstract

The problem of blood flow through stenoses is solved using the incompressible generalized Newtonian model. The Herschel-Bulkley, Bingham and power-law fluids are incorporated. The geometry corresponds to a rigid circular tube with a partial occlusion. Calculations are performed by a Galerkin finite-element method. For the pulsatile case, a predictor-corrector time marching scheme is used with an adaptive time step. Results are obtained for steady and pulsatile physiological flows. Computations show that the memory effects taken into account in the model affect deeply the flow compared with the Newtonian reference case. The disturbances are stronger by their vorticity intensity and persist after the geometrical obstacle. This is especially true for severe stenoses.