Author(s)

M. Rosenfeld & S. Einav

Abstract

The influence of constriction size on the pulsating flow in a channel M. Rosenfeld & S. Einav Department of Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer, Faculty of Engineering, Tel Aviv University, ABSTRACT The flow field in a channel with a constriction is studied with the aim to better understand the flow in stenosed blood vessels. The flow was numerically simulated by solving the time-dependent incompressible Navier-Stokes equa- tions. A pulsating incoming flow, resembling a cardiac cycle at the aortic root, is specified at the upstream boundary. The influence of the size of a circular-arc constriction is studied in the present work. It is shown that even for a very small constriction size (7% of the height of the channel) large transverse variations are developed. At more severe constrictions, large vortices are generated; the strength and the number of vortices increase with the severity of the constric- tion. Yet, the propagation velocity "is independent of the constriction size,

Keywords