Blood Flow in Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms: Pulsatile Flow Hemodynamics

2001 ◽  
Vol 123 (5) ◽  
pp. 474-484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ender A. Finol ◽  
Cristina H. Amon

Numerical predictions of blood flow patterns and hemodynamic stresses in Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms (AAAs) are performed in a two-aneurysm, axisymmetric, rigid wall model using the spectral element method. Physiologically realistic aortic blood flow is simulated under pulsatile conditions for the range of time-averaged Reynolds numbers 50⩽Rem⩽300, corresponding to a range of peak Reynolds numbers 262.5⩽Repeak⩽1575. The vortex dynamics induced by pulsatile flow in AAAs is characterized by a sequence of five different flow phases in one period of the flow cycle. Hemodynamic disturbance is evaluated for a modified set of indicator functions, which include wall pressure pw, wall shear stress τw, and Wall Shear Stress Gradient (WSSG). At peak flow, the highest shear stress and WSSG levels are obtained downstream of both aneurysms, in a pattern similar to that of steady flow. Maximum values of wall shear stresses and wall shear stress gradients obtained at peak flow are evaluated as a function of the time-average Reynolds number resulting in a fourth order polynomial correlation. A comparison between predictions for steady and pulsatile flow is presented, illustrating the importance of considering time-dependent flow for the evaluation of hemodynamic indicators.

2003 ◽  
Vol 125 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. A. Finol ◽  
K. Keyhani ◽  
C. H. Amon

In the abdominal segment of the human aorta under a patient’s average resting conditions, pulsatile blood flow exhibits complex laminar patterns with secondary flows induced by adjacent branches and irregular vessel geometries. The flow dynamics becomes more complex when there is a pathological condition that causes changes in the normal structural composition of the vessel wall, for example, in the presence of an aneurysm. This work examines the hemodynamics of pulsatile blood flow in hypothetical three-dimensional models of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs). Numerical predictions of blood flow patterns and hemodynamic stresses in AAAs are performed in single-aneurysm, asymmetric, rigid wall models using the finite element method. We characterize pulsatile flow dynamics in AAAs for average resting conditions by means of identifying regions of disturbed flow and quantifying the disturbance by evaluating flow-induced stresses at the aneurysm wall, specifically wall pressure and wall shear stress. Physiologically realistic abdominal aortic blood flow is simulated under pulsatile conditions for the range of time-average Reynolds numbers 50⩽Rem⩽300, corresponding to a range of peak Reynolds numbers 262.5⩽Repeak⩽1575. The vortex dynamics induced by pulsatile flow in AAAs is depicted by a sequence of four different flow phases in one period of the cardiac pulse. Peak wall shear stress and peak wall pressure are reported as a function of the time-average Reynolds number and aneurysm asymmetry. The effect of asymmetry in hypothetically shaped AAAs is to increase the maximum wall shear stress at peak flow and to induce the appearance of secondary flows in late diastole.


2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (sup1) ◽  
pp. 27-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. Macek Jilkova ◽  
V. Deplano ◽  
C. Verdier ◽  
M. Toungara ◽  
C. Geindreau ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Michelle Consolini ◽  
Tiziano Passerini ◽  
Marina Piccinelli ◽  
Brandon Fornwalt ◽  
Nick G. Willett ◽  
...  

Abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) develop in the infrarenal aorta of humans and in the suprarenal aorta of apoE−/− mice infused with angiotensin II (AngII). Oscillatory wall shear stress in the infrarenal human abdominal aorta is driven by the flow to the gastric arteries, the lumbar curvature and the capacitance of the lower extremities [1]. Two of these factors, the lumbar curvature and the capacitance of the lower extremities, are significantly different in mice than in humans. Therefore, we hypothesized that the differences in localization of AAAs between species is explained by differences in the pattern of wall shear stress via the shear-regulated modulation of inflammatory pathways involving AngII.


2014 ◽  
Vol 758 ◽  
pp. 150-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shyam Sunder Gopalakrishnan ◽  
Benoît Pier ◽  
Arie Biesheuvel

AbstractTo contribute to the understanding of flow phenomena in abdominal aortic aneurysms, numerical computations of pulsatile flows through aneurysm models and a stability analysis of these flows were carried out. The volume flow rate waveforms into the aneurysms were based on measurements of these waveforms, under rest and exercise conditions, of patients suffering abdominal aortic aneurysms. The Reynolds number and Womersley number, the dimensionless quantities that characterize the flow, were varied within the physiologically relevant range, and the two geometric quantities that characterize the model aneurysm were varied to assess the influence of the length and maximal diameter of an aneurysm on the details of the flow. The computed flow phenomena and the induced wall shear stress distributions agree well with what was found in PIV measurements by Salsac et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 560, 2006, pp. 19–51). The results suggest that long aneurysms are less pathological than short ones, and that patients with an abdominal aortic aneurysm are better to avoid physical exercise. The pulsatile flows were found to be unstable to three-dimensional disturbances if the aneurysm was sufficiently localized or had a sufficiently large maximal diameter, even for flow conditions during rest. The abdominal aortic aneurysm can be viewed as acting like a ‘wavemaker’ that induces disturbed flow conditions in healthy segments of the arterial system far downstream of the aneurysm; this may be related to the fact that one-fifth of the larger abdominal aortic aneurysms are found to extend into the common iliac arteries. Finally, we report a remarkable sensitivity of the wall shear stress distribution and the growth rate of three-dimensional disturbances to small details of the aneurysm geometry near the proximal end. These findings suggest that a sensitivity analysis is appropriate when a patient-specific computational study is carried out to obtain a quantitative description of the wall shear stress distribution.


1993 ◽  
Vol 115 (4A) ◽  
pp. 412-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masahide Nakamura ◽  
Wataru Sugiyama ◽  
Manabu Haruna

An experiment on the fully developed sinusoidal pulsatile flow at transitional Reynolds numbers was performed to evaluate the basic characteristics of the wall shear stress. In this experiment, the wall shear stress was calculated from the measured section averaged axial velocity and the pressure gradient by using the section averaged Navier-Stokes equation. The experimental results showed that the ratio of the amplitude of the wall shear stress to the amplitude of the pressure gradient had the maximum value when the time averaged Reynolds number was about 4000 and the Womersley number was about 10. As this condition is close to the blood flow condition in the human aorta, it is suggested that the parameter of the aorta has an effect to increase the amplitude of the wall shear stress acting on the arterial wall.


2015 ◽  
Vol 137 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirk B. Hansen ◽  
Amirhossein Arzani ◽  
Shawn C. Shadden

Intraluminal thrombus (ILT) in abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) has potential implications to aneurysm growth and rupture risk; yet, the mechanisms underlying its development remain poorly understood. Some researchers have proposed that ILT development may be driven by biomechanical platelet activation within the AAA, followed by adhesion in regions of low wall shear stress. Studies have investigated wall shear stress levels within AAA, but platelet activation potential (AP) has not been quantified. In this study, patient-specific computational fluid dynamic (CFD) models were used to analyze stress-induced AP within AAA under rest and exercise flow conditions. The analysis was conducted using Lagrangian particle-based and Eulerian continuum-based approaches, and the results were compared. Results indicated that biomechanical platelet activation is unlikely to play a significant role for the conditions considered. No consistent trend was observed in comparing rest and exercise conditions, but the functional dependence of AP on stress magnitude and exposure time can have a large impact on absolute levels of anticipated platelet AP. The Lagrangian method obtained higher peak AP values, although this difference was limited to a small percentage of particles that falls below reported levels of physiologic background platelet activation.


2004 ◽  
Vol 126 (4) ◽  
pp. 438-446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. Peattie ◽  
Tiffany J. Riehle ◽  
Edward I. Bluth

As one important step in the investigation of the mechanical factors that lead to rupture of abdominal aortic aneurysms, flow fields and flow-induced wall stress distributions have been investigated in model aneurysms under pulsatile flow conditions simulating the in vivo aorta at rest. Vortex pattern emergence and evolution were evaluated, and conditions for flow stability were delineated. Systolic flow was found to be forward-directed throughout the bulge in all the models, regardless of size. Vortices appeared in the bulge initially during deceleration from systole, then expanded during the retrograde flow phase. The complexity of the vortex field depended strongly on bulge diameter. In every model, the maximum shear stress occurred at peak systole at the distal bulge end, with the greatest shear stress developing in a model corresponding to a 4.3 cm AAA in vivo. Although the smallest models exhibited stable flow throughout the cycle, flow in the larger models became increasingly unstable as bulge size increased, with strong amplification of instability in the distal half of the bulge. These data suggest that larger aneurysms in vivo may be subject to more frequent and intense turbulence than smaller aneurysms. Concomitantly, increased turbulence may contribute significantly to wall stress magnitude and thereby to risk of rupture.


Author(s):  
Andrea S. Les ◽  
Christopher P. Cheng ◽  
Mary T. Draney Blomme ◽  
C. Alberto Figueroa ◽  
John F. LaDisa ◽  
...  

Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms (AAAs) — the localized enlargement of the abdominal aorta — represent the 13th leading cause of death in the United States. The natural progression of small (3–5 cm) AAAs is 2–6% growth per year until rupture or surgical repair [1]. As AAAs enlarge, adverse hemodynamic conditions (including regions of low mean wall shear stress and high particle residence time) are exacerbated under normal resting conditions.


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