A PREDICTIVE COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS STUDY OF CAROTID ARTERY

摘要

A simple 3d-model of carotid artery in the shape of a 90' T-Junction with equal diameters was studied. The horizontal branch had a length of 2.05m in the x-direction and a diameter of 10mm, the vertical height of the branch was 0.815m. The Reynolds numbers considered were 250,496,515,525 and 1130 with the parent to daughter flow ratios of 0.23, 0.44 and 0.64, were investigated. The study was carried out using PHYSICA an in house code developed by the University of Greenwich and CFX-4.1, a commercial CFD code developed by AEA at Harwell. The results obtained showed that the data from both codes followed the same trend as those predicted Liepsch et al. [1982]. The discrepancies the two codes are thought to relate to difference in boundary conditions implemented in the two codes. These differences are in the order of 3-5%, which is an acceptable margin of error, taking into account experimental uncertainties. The conclusion from the study indicates that the flow ratio between the two branches plays more important role as opposed to the Reynolds number in terms of separation and re-attachment points.