Flow measurements in a model of the mildly curved femoral artery of man.
Steady flow observations in a smooth curved femoral artery model with a gradual bend revealed a flow pattern like that observed in coiled pipes. A double helical type flow was found to develop, with converging streamlines in the wall vicinity from the upper and lower plane of curvature merging asymptotically along the inner curvature in a stable manner. The helical or swirl angle of the labeled fluid particle paths increased with flow rate and thus Dean number. Flow in the wall vicinity was altered by centrifugal effects almost immediately downstream of the transition from the straight to curved segment for steady flow, although the propagation of this effect was observed farther downstream along the inner curvature side. This observed distance along the inner curvature became shorter with increasing Dean number. Pressure measurements for steady flow revealed progressively larger pressure drops with distance along the entrance region of the curved segment relative to that for a straight lumen. The overall pressure drop or flow resistance increased in a nonlinear way with increasing flow rate and thus Dean number. Time average pressure drop measurements across another similar smooth curved femoral model were found to be about the same for simulation of femoral artery pulsatile flow as for steady flow.
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena.
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D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000502:physiology; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D004396:Coloring Agents; D005263:Femoral Artery / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D012039:Regional Blood Flow; D012212:Rheology
D004396:Coloring Agents