Computation of three-dimensional blood flow development in a 180O curved tube geometry

Chiang, C-H; Kao, R-H; Hung, T-K; Beg, A

Abstract

Computational blood flow studies are providing an increasingly important compliment to
clinical experiments in 21st century biomedical engineering. Motivated by probing deeper into
this topic, a theoretical and numerical study is presented of the flow induced by an impulsive
acceleration to steady state hemodynamics in a curved tube is investigated as a boundary layer
developing with time from the curved entrance to a straight tube (blood vessel). The transient
processes are simulated with a finite volume method solution of the Navier-Stokes equations. The
rapid growth of the boundary layer with the core flow is captured in the curved entrance, along
the tube to an axisymmetric flow in the downstream. Secondary flow patterns, centrifugal
pressures and total head contours are correlated with longitudinal velocity distributions across
various sections. It is observed that the entrance zone is controlled by uniform inlet velocity and
centrifugal forces. The high pressure drop in the onset flow is associated with strong acceleration
which is comparable to generating systolic pressures. The simulations further indicate that a
sustained increment in volumetric flow rate is necessary to maintain the pressure wave in the
aorta. Furthermore, the velocity distributions are shown to approach Hagen-Poiseuille flow in the
downstream zone. The complex hemodynamic characteristics are visualized effectively with
computational simulations and the study demonstrates the excellent ability of this approach in
elaborating critical flow details in aortic hemodynamics.

Citation

Chiang, C., Kao, R., Hung, T., & Beg, A. (2023). Computation of three-dimensional blood flow development in a 180O curved tube geometry. Journal of Mechanics in Medicine and Biology, 23(5), https://doi.org/10.1142/S0219519423500537

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 6, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Jun 19, 2023
• Publication Date: Jun 19, 2023
• Deposit Date: Apr 11, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 20, 2024
• Journal: Journal of Mechanics in Medicine and Biology
• Print ISSN: 0219-5194
• Electronic ISSN: 1793-6810
• Publisher: World Scientific Publishing
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 23
• Issue: 5
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1142/S0219519423500537