Hemodynamic Characteristics in A Straight and Wavy Artery: A Numerical Study

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to investigate the hemodynamic characteristics through plain and wavy arteries with the help of numerical analysis using ANSYS FLUENT. The study is divided into two parts - steady flow through plain and wavy arteries and unsteady flow through plain and wavy arteries. Velocity profile for flow through a plain tube under steady-state shows no change in the pressure along with constant wall shear stress. In a wavy tube at a distance of 1.5d and 2.5d, there is the formation of small vortices. The pressure along the length of the artery keeps decreasing as the flow develops in accordance with Bernoulli’s principle. For unsteady flow in a plain artery, the velocity decreases with time but there isn’t much change. The wall shear stress becomes zero at the points where the flow separates because there is no momentum in the fluid. From the study, it was concluded that in a straight artery the streamline velocity remains constant through the length of the tube whereas in the wavy artery, streamline velocity shifts from the centerline.