Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a degenerative disease defined as the abnormal ballooning of the abdominal aorta (AA) wall which is usually caused by atherosclerosis. The aneurysm grows larger and eventually ruptures if it is not diagnosed and treated. Aneurysms occur mostly in the aorta, the main artery of the chest and abdomen. The aorta carries blood flow from the heart to all parts of the body, including the vital organs, the legs, and feet. The objective of the present study is to investigate the combined effects of aneurysm and curvature on flow characteristics in S-shaped bends with sweep angle of 90° at Reynolds number of 900. The fluid mechanics of blood flow in a curved artery with abnormal aortic is studied through a mathematical analysis and employing Cosmos flow simulation. Blood is modeled as an incompressible non-Newtonian fluid and the flow is assumed to be steady and laminar. Hemodynamic characteristics are analyzed. Grid independence is tested on three successively refined meshes. It is observed that the abrupt expansion induced by AAA results in an immensely disturbed regime. The results may have implications not only for understanding the mechanical behavior of the blood flow inside an aneurysm artery but also for investigating the mechanical behavior of the blood flow in different arterial diseases, such as atherosclerosis.
Numerical study of turbulent cavitating flows in thermal regime
