DOI: 10.1615/TSFP2
SHEAR-INSTABILITY IN POSTSTENOTIC ARTERIAL FLOWS
SINOPSIS
The paper is concerned with instabilities and transition-to-turbulence in pulsatile flows through a stenosis. Our long term objective is to obtain a better understanding of the flow phenomena associated with diseases such as atherosclerosis and stroke. This can potentially help the development of better diagnostic criteria and clinical detection techniques. Using high-order Godunov-type methods and advanced non-linear multigrid algorithms we have performed three-dimensional simulations of the pulsatile flow through a 75% stenosis and investigate the details of the flow development with particular interest in the poststenotic region. Our simulations reveal the formation of a three-dimensional instability which leads to a strongly disturbed flow extended up to 50-60 radius downstream of the stenosis. This flow behaviour subsequently affects the wall shear stress distribution.