Pulsatile Flow Patterns and Wall Shear Stresses in Arch of a Turn-Around Tube With/Without Stenosis

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe temporal/spatial evolution processes of the flow pattern, velocity distribution, and wall shear stress of pulsatile water flows in the arch of 180o turn-around tubes with/without stenosis were experimentally studied by using the particle image velocimetry (PIV). Three transparent tubes made of glass were used: A tube without stenosis in the arch, a tube with a 25% stenosis at the inner wall of arch, and a tube with a 50% stenosis at the inner wall of arch. Here the percentage of stensis denoted the ratio between the stenosis height to inner diameter of arch in the diametral cross section across mid-arch of the central plane. The flow was provided by a pump which approximately simulated the pulsatile pressure waves of human heart beats. The systole to diastole time period ratio is set at 35%:65%. The Womersley parameter, Dean number, and time-averaged Reynolds number were 14, 2348, and 3500, respectively. In the arch of the turn-around tube without stenosis, no boundary layer separation was found during the systolic phase. The reverse flow and recirculation bubble appeared in the arch only during the diastolic phase. The inner wall of the arch experienced lower wall shear stress during the diastolic phase due to the formation of recirculation bubble and secondary flow. In the arch with stenosis, the boundary layer separated from the inner wall and formed a recirculation bubble downstream the stenosis during the systolic phase. Lower stenosis (25%) did not cause drastic variation of the wall shear stresses. At higher stenosis (50%), however, the wall shear stress around the inner wall downstream the stenosis became extraordinarily low, whereas the wall shear stress around the upstream region of the outer wall of the downstream branch of the tube became anomalously large.