Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 14 (2009) 2971–2981

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Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat

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Mathematical modeling of pulsatile flow of non-Newtonian fluid

in stenosed arteries
D.S. Sankar a, Usik Lee b,*
a
School of Mathematical Sciences, University Science Malaysia, Penang 11800, Malaysia
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Inha University, 253 Yonghyun-Dong, Nam-Gu, Incheon 402-751, Republic of Korea

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The pulsatile flow of blood through mild stenosed artery is studied. The effects of pulsatil-
Received 15 December 2007 ity, stenosis and non-Newtonian behavior of blood, treating the blood as Herschel–Bulkley
Received in revised form 31 July 2008 fluid, are simultaneously considered. A perturbation method is used to analyze the flow.
Accepted 23 October 2008
The expressions for the shear stress, velocity, flow rate, wall shear stress, longitudinal
Available online 6 November 2008
impedance and the plug core radius have been obtained. The variations of these flow quan-
tities with different parameters of the fluid have been analyzed. It is found that, the plug
PACS:
core radius, pressure drop and wall shear stress increase with the increase of yield stress
47
47.15x
or the stenosis height. The velocity and the wall shear stress increase considerably with
47.50d the increase in the amplitude of the pressure drop. It is clear that for a given value of ste-
47.85g nosis height and for the increasing values of the stenosis shape parameter from 3 to 6, there
87.00.00 is a sharp increase in the impedance of the flow and also the plots are skewed to the right-
87.10+e hand side. It is observed that the estimates of the increase in the longitudinal impedance
increase with the increase of the axial distance or with the increase of the stenosis height.
Keywords: The present study also brings out the effects of asymmetric of the stenosis on the flow
Blood rheology
quantities.
Pulsatile flow
Ó 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Herschel–Bulkley fluid
Stenosed arteries
Increase in longitudinal impedance

1. Introduction

The study of blood flow through stenosed arteries is very important because of the fact that the cause and development of
many arterial diseases leading to the malfunction of the cardiovascular system are, to a great extent, related to the flow char-
acteristics of blood. Among the various arterial diseases, the development of arteriosclerosis in blood vessels is quite com-
mon which may be attributed to accumulation of lipids in the arterial wall [1]. Arteries are narrowed by the development of
atherosclerotic plaques that protrude into the lumen, resulting in stenosed arteries [2]. As an obstruction developed in an
artery, one of the most series consequences is the increased resistance and the associated reduction of blood flow to the par-
ticular vascular bed supplied by the artery [3]. Thus, the presence of a stenosis can lead to serious circulatory disorder.
Quite a good number of analytical studies pertaining to the blood flow through stenosed arteries have been carried out
[4–9] in order to analyze the arterial constriction on the flow characteristics of blood. When blood flows through larger arter-
ies at high rate, blood behaves like a Newtonian fluid [4,5]. But blood, being suspension of cells in plasma, exhibits non-

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 32 860 7318; fax: +82 32 866 1434.
E-mail address: ulee@[Link] (U. Lee)

1007-5704/$ - see front matter Ó 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/[Link].2008.10.015
2972 D.S. Sankar, U. Lee / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 14 (2009) 2971–2981

Newtonian behavior at low shear rates when it flows through narrow arteries, particularly in diseased state [10–12]. It is
found that arterial blood flow is highly pulsatile with marked effects on instantaneous velocity distributions and the flow
rate varies over a wide range during a flow cycle [13,14]. However, a flattened velocity profile has been obtained especially
when dealing with pulsatile flow in many experiments suggesting a plug flow in the core region. Therefore, it is appropriate
to represent blood as a non-Newtonian fluid which models this velocity profile.
Casson fluid and Herschel–Bulkley fluid are the non-Newtonian fluid model which are used in the studies of blood flows
[15,16]. Chaturani and Ponnalagar Samy [17] and Siddiqui et al. [18] have studied the pulsatile flow of Casson’s fluid through
stenosed arteries. In this paper, we have extended their result for pulsatile flow of Herschel–Bulkley fluid through a stenosed
tube, as it is noticed that blood obeys Casson’s equation only for moderate shear rate and the Herschel–Bulkley equation rep-
resents fairly closely what is occurring in blood [19]. Chaturani and Ponnalagar Samy [3] have mentioned that for tube diam-
eter 0.095 mm blood behaves like Herschel–Bulkley fluid rather than power law and Bingham fluids. Iida [16] reports ‘‘The
velocity profile in the arterioles having diameter less than 0.1 mm are generally explained fairly by Casson and Herschel–
Bulkley fluid models. However, velocity profiles in the arterioles whose diameters are less than 0.065 mm do not conform
to the Casson model, but, can still be explained by Herschel–Bulkley model. Also, Casson fluid’s constitutive equation has
only one parameter namely the yield stress, whereas, the Herschel–Bulkley fluid’s constitutive equation has one more
parameter, namely the power law index ‘n’ and thus, one can expect more detailed information about flow characteristics
by using the Herschel–Bulkley fluid. Hence, it is appropriate to model blood as a Herschel–Bulkley fluid rather than Casson
fluid in this paper.
The layout of the paper is as follows: Section 2 formulates the problem mathematically, while Section 3 deals with the
perturbation method of solution. In Section 4, the effects of pulsatility, stenosis and non-Newtonian behavior of blood on
various flow quantities are discussed through the appropriate graphs. Both the cases of axially symmetric stenosis and asym-
metric stenosis have been analyzed. The results are summarized in the concluding Section 5. The results of Newtonian fluid,
power law fluid and Bingham fluid can be obtained as the particular cases from the present model.

2. Formulation

Consider an axially symmetric, laminar, pulsatile and fully developed flow of blood (assumed to be incompressible) in the
z direction through a circular artery with a mild stenosis as shown in Fig. 1. We have used cylindrical polar coordinates
 zÞ whose origin is located on the vessel (stenosed artery) axis. The wall of the stenosed artery is assumed to be rigid.
ðr ; /;
It can be shown that the radial velocity is negligibly small and can be neglected for a low Reynolds number flow in a tube
with mild stenosis. In this case, the basic momentum equations governing the flow are

ou 
op 1 o
q  ¼      ðrsÞ ð1Þ
ot oz r or

op
0¼ ð2Þ
or
where u  is the density, t is the time, s
 is the pressure, q
 is the axial component of the velocity, p  ¼ js
rz j ¼ s
rz is the shear
stress. In this study, blood has been modeled as Herschel–Bulkley fluid whose constitutive equation is given by
 
ou  1=n
s ¼ l H1=n þs
H if s
Ps
H ð3Þ
or

ou
¼0 if s
6s
H ð4Þ
or
where s  H is the coefficient of viscosity for Herschel–Bulkley fluid with dimension (ML1T2)nT. Eq.
H is the yield stress and l
(4) corresponds to the vanishing of the velocity gradient in the region where the shear stress is less than the yield stress
which implies a plug flow whenever s 6s H . However, the fluid behavior is indicated whenever s PsH . The geometry of
the stenosis is given by

Fig. 1. Geometry of the stenosed artery.

 D.S. Sankar, U. Lee / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 14 (2009) 2971–2981 2973

(
RðzÞ 1  A½Lm1   ðz  dÞ
ðz  dÞ  m  if d
 6 z 6 d
 þ L0
0
¼ ð5Þ
R0 1 otherwise

where A ¼ ð d=R0 L0 Þmðm=m1Þ ,   þ ðL0 =mðm=m1Þ Þ such that 

d denotes the maximum height of the stenosis at z ¼ d d=R0  1, RðzÞ is
the radius of the artery in the stenosed region, R00 is the radius of the normal artery, L00 is the length of the stenosis, d0 indi-
cates its location and d is the maximum height of the stenosis. The boundary conditions are
ðiÞ s
 is finite at r ¼ 0 ð6Þ
 ¼ 0 at r ¼ RðzÞ
ðiiÞ u ð7Þ
Since, the pressure gradient is a function of z and t, we take

op
 ðz; tÞ ¼ q
ðzÞf ðtÞ ð8Þ
oz

where qðzÞ ¼  oopz ðz; 0Þ,
f ðtÞ ¼ 1 þ A sin x t, A is the amplitude of the blood flow and x
 is the angular frequency of the blood
flow. Any periodic function can be expanded in a series of sines of multiple angles using Fourier series. Hence, it is reasonable
to choose f ðtÞ ¼ 1 þ A sin x  t as a good approximation. Let us introduce the following non dimensional variables
0 ds
z RðzÞ r d q0 ðz0 Þ L0 
u
z¼ ; RðzÞ ¼ ; r¼ ; t ¼ tx
; d¼ ; qðzÞ ¼ ; L0 ¼ ; ds ¼ ; u¼ ;
R0 R0 R0 R00 q00 R0 R0 q0 R20
4l0

s 2s R2 x
q 
s ¼ q R ; h ¼ H ; a2 ¼ 0 ð9Þ
0 0 
q0 R0 l 0
2
h in1
where l
0 ¼ l
H 2
0
R0 q
0 is the negative of the pressure gradient in
, having dimension as that of Newtonian fluid’s viscosity, q
the normal artery. a is the pulsatile Reynolds number or generalized Womersly frequency parameter and when n = 1, we get
the Womersly frequency parameter for Newtonian fluid. Using the non-dimensional variables, Eqs. (1), (3) and (4) reduce to
ou 2 o
a2 ¼ 4qðzÞf ðtÞ  ðrsÞ ð10Þ
ot r or
 1=n
1 ou
s¼  þh if sPh ð11Þ
2 or
ou
¼0 if s6h ð12Þ
or
where f(t) = 1 + Asint. The boundary conditions (in the dimensionless form) are
ðiÞ s is finite at r ¼ 0 ð13Þ
ðiiÞ u ¼ 0 at r ¼ RðzÞ ð14Þ
The geometry of the stenosis in dimensionless form is given by
( h i
RðzÞ 1  A Lm1
0 ðz  dÞ  ðz  dÞm if d 6 z 6 d þ L0
¼ ð15Þ
R0 1 otherwise
where A ¼ ð
d=R0 L0 Þmðm=m1Þ . The non-dimensional volume flow rate Q(t) is given by
Z RðzÞ
Q ðtÞ ¼ 4 uðz; r; tÞr dr ð16Þ
0

where Q ðtÞ ¼ Q ðtÞ=½pR40 q

0 =8l, Q ðtÞ is the volume flow rate and lis the viscosity of the Newtonian fluid.

3. Method of solution

When we non-dimensionalize Eq. (1) of the conservation of momentum, a2 occurs naturally and it is time dependent and
hence, it is more appropriate to expand Eqs. (10) and (11) about a2. On using perturbation method, the assumed form of the
solution reflects the physical principle that inertial effects are p
not important
ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi for small values of the frequency parameter
which determines the pressure gradient. It is expected that if R0 x q  =l  0 is of the order of unity, then the flow can be treated
as quasi-steady. This condition is usually only satisfied only in smaller arteries. The velocity u, the shear stresss, the plug core
radius Rp, the plug core velocity up, and the plug core shear stress sp are expanded as follows in terms of a2 (where a2  1)

uðr; z; tÞ ¼ u0 ðr; z; tÞ þ a2 u1 ðr; z; tÞ þ    ð17Þ

sðr; z; tÞ ¼ s0 ðr; z; tÞ þ a2 s1 ðr; z; tÞ þ    ð18Þ
Rp ðz; tÞ ¼ R0p ðz; tÞ þ a2 R1p ðz; tÞ þ    ð19Þ
2974 D.S. Sankar, U. Lee / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 14 (2009) 2971–2981

up ðz; tÞ ¼ u0p ðz; tÞ þ a2 u1p ðz; tÞ þ    ð20Þ

sp ðz; tÞ ¼ s0p ðz; tÞ þ a2 s1p ðz; tÞ þ    ð21Þ
Substituting Eqs. (17) and (18) in Eq. (10) and then equating the constant term and a2 term we get
o
ðrs0 Þ ¼ 2rqðzÞf ðtÞ ð22Þ
or
ou0 2 o
¼ ðr s1 Þ ð23Þ
ot r or
Integrating Eq. (22) between 0 and R0p, and using the condition s0p is finite at r = 0, we obtain
s0p ¼ qðzÞf ðtÞR0p ð24Þ
Integrating Eq. (22) between R0p and r and making use of Eq. (24), one can get
s0 ¼ qðzÞf ðtÞr ð25Þ
Substituting Eqs. (17) and (18) into Eq. (11), we get
ou0
 ¼ 2sn1
0 ½s0  nh ð26Þ
or
ou1
 ¼ 2nsn2
0 s1 ½s0  ðn  1Þh ð27Þ
or
Substituting Eq. (25) into Eq. (26) and integrating between r and R(=R(z)) with the help of the boundary condition given by
Eq. (14), we obtain
"  #
1 h r inþ1  k2  h r in 
u0 ¼ 2½qðzÞf ðtÞn R 1  1 ð28Þ
ðn þ 1Þ R R R
2
where k ¼ qðzÞfh ðtÞ. The plug core velocity u0pcan be obtained from Eq. (28) as
" (  nþ1 )  n  #
2
1 R0p k R0p
u0p ¼ 2½qðzÞf ðtÞn R 1  1 ð29Þ
ðn þ 1Þ R R R

Neglecting the terms with a2and higher powers ofa in Eq. (19) and using Eq. (24), the expression for R0p can be obtained as
h 2
rjs0p ¼h ¼ R0p ¼ ¼k ð30Þ
qðzÞf ðtÞ
Similarly solving Eqs. (23) and (27) with the help of Eqs. (28) and (29), and using the boundary conditions given by Eqs. (13)
and (14), the solutions for s1p, s1, u1 and u1p can be obtained as
2 " # " #2 " #nþ2 3
2 2 2
n 24 n k ðn  1Þ k n k 5
s1p ¼ ½qðzÞf ðtÞR BR   ð31Þ
2ðn þ 1Þ R 2 R 2ðn þ 1Þ R

"    " 2 #  

n n þ 3 h r i h r inþ2 ðn  1Þ k n þ 2 h r i h r inþ1
s1 ¼ ½qðzÞf ðtÞRn BR2   
ðn þ 1Þðn þ 3Þ 2 R R ðn þ 2Þ R 2 R R
" 2 #nþ3  3
3ðn2 þ 2n  2Þ k R 5
 ð32Þ
2ðn þ 2Þðn þ 3Þ R r

" 
n h r inþ1 h r i2nþ2 
2n1 3
u1 ¼ 2n½qðzÞf ðtÞR BR ðn þ 2Þ  ðn þ 3Þ þ
2ðn þ 1Þ2 ðn þ 3Þ R R
" #  
2
ðn  1Þ k r n r nþ1
þ ðn þ 2Þðn þ 3Þð2n þ 1Þ þ
2ðn þ 1Þðn þ 2Þðn þ 3Þð2n þ 1Þ R R R
 h r i2nþ1 
 2 ð2n3 þ 9n2 þ 11n þ 3Þ þ ð2n2 þ 6n þ 3Þ
R
!
2 2  !
2 nþ3  
ðn  1Þ 2
k h r i n h r i2n 3ðn2 þ 2n  2Þ k r n1
þ ðn þ 1Þ  ðn þ 2Þ þ þ 1
2nðn þ 2Þ R R R 2ðn  1Þðn þ 2Þðn þ 3Þ R R
! 3
2 nþ4  h r in2 
3ðn2 þ 2n  2Þðn  1Þ k 5
þ 1 ð33Þ
2ðn  2Þðn þ 2Þðn þ 3Þ R R
 D.S. Sankar, U. Lee / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 14 (2009) 2971–2981 2975

2 8 " #nþ1 " #2nþ2 9

n < k
2
k
2 =
2n1 34
u1p ¼ 2n½qðzÞf ðtÞR BR 2
ðn þ 2Þ  ðn þ 3Þ þ
2ðn þ 1Þ ðn þ 3Þ : R R ;
" # 8 2 ! ! 3
2 n 2 nþ1
k <
2
ðn  1Þ k k
þ ðn þ 2Þðn þ 3Þð2n þ 1Þ4 þ 5
2ðn þ 1Þðn þ 2Þðn þ 3Þð2n þ 1Þ R : R R
2 " #2nþ1 39
k
2 =
4 3 2 2
 2 ð2n þ 9n þ 11n þ 3Þ þ ð2n þ 6n þ 3Þ 5
R ;
! 8 " #n " #2n 9 ! 8 ! 99
2 2< 2 2 = 2 nþ3 < 2 n1 ==
ðn  1Þ2 k k k 3ðn2 þ 2n  2Þ k k
þ ðn þ 1Þ  ðn þ 2Þ þ þ 1
2nðn þ 2Þ R : R R ; 2ðn  1Þðn þ 2Þðn þ 3Þ R : R ;;
!nþ4 8 " #n2 93
3ðn2 þ 2n  2Þðn  1Þ k
2 < k
2 =
þ 1 5 ð34Þ
2ðn  2Þðn þ 2Þðn þ 3Þ R : R ;

1 df ðtÞ
where B ¼ f ðtÞ dt
. The expression for velocity u can easily be obtained from Eqs. (17), (28) and (33). The wall shear stress sw is
a physiologically important quantity which plays an important role in determining aggregate sites of platelets [20] and is
given by

sw ¼ ðs0 þ a2 s1 Þr¼R
2 8 ! ! 93
n1 2 2 < 2 2 nþ3 =
ðqðzÞf ðtÞRÞ a R B k k
¼ ½qðzÞf ðtÞR41  nðn þ 2Þ  ðn  1Þnðn þ 3Þ  3ðn2 þ 2n  2Þ 5 ð35Þ
2ðn þ 2Þðn þ 3Þ : R R ;

From Eq. (16) and the expressions for velocity, the volume flow rate is calculated and is given by
28 ! ! 9 !
2 nþ3 =
4½qðzÞf ðtÞRn R3 4<
2
k k nBR2
Q ðtÞ ¼ ðn þ 2Þ  nðn þ 3Þ þ ðn2 þ 2n  2Þ  a2 ½qðzÞf ðtÞRn1
ðn þ 2Þðn þ 3Þ : R R ; 2
8 ! ! !
< 2 2 2 2 nþ3
2nðn  1Þð4n2 þ 12n þ 5Þ k nðn  1Þ2 ðn þ 3Þ k ðn3  2n2  11n þ 6Þ k
 n þ þ
: ð2n þ 1Þð2n þ 3Þ R ðn þ 1Þ R ðn þ 1Þ R
! ! 93
2 nþ4 2 2nþ4 =
ðn  1Þðn3  2n2  11n þ 6Þ k ð4n5 þ 14n4  8n3  45n2  3n þ 18Þ k 5
  ð36Þ
n R nðn þ 1Þð2n þ 3Þ R ;

The second approximation to plug core radius R1p can be obtained by neglecting the terms with a4 and higher powers ofa in
Eq. (19) in the following manner. The shear stress s = s0 + a2s1 at r = Rp is given by

½s0 þ a2 s1 r¼Rp ¼ h ð37Þ

Eq. (37) reflects the fact that on the boundary of the plug core region the shear stress is the same as the yield stress. Using
Taylor’s series of s0 ands1 about R0p and using s0 jr¼R0p ¼ h, we get

R1p ¼ s1 jr¼Rop =qðzÞf ðtÞ ð38Þ

With the help of Eqs. (19), (30), (31) and (38), Rp can be given by
!2 !   2 !2 ! 3
2 2 nþ2
2 nBR3 k n 2
 1 k k
Rp ¼ k þ a2 ½qðzÞf ðtÞRn1 4   5 ð39Þ
2ðn þ 1Þ R n R R

The pressure drop in the artery is defined by

Z L
Dp ¼ f ðtÞ qðzÞdz ð40Þ
0

The longitudinal impedance of the artery is given by

K ¼ qðzÞf ðtÞ=QðtÞ ð41Þ
2976 D.S. Sankar, U. Lee / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 14 (2009) 2971–2981

4. Results and discussion

It is clear that in Eq. (36), f(t), R and h are the known quantities and Q(t) and q(z) are the unknown quantities to be deter-
mined. A careful observation of Eq. (36) shows that q(z) is the pressure gradient of the steady flow. If steady flow is assumed,
then Eq. (36) can be solved for q(z) [17]. For steady flow, Eq. (36) reduces to

ðn þ 2ÞRnþ3 xnþ3  nðn þ 3ÞhRnþ2 xnþ2  ½ðn þ 2Þðn þ 3Þ=4Q S x3 þ ðn2 þ 2n  2Þhnþ3 ¼ 0 ð42Þ
where x = q(z) and QS is the steady state flow rate. Eq. (42) can be solved for x numerically for a given value of ‘n’ and for a
givenQS. It is generally observed that the typical value of the power law index ‘n’ for blood flow are taken to lie between 0.9
and 1.1 and in this paper we have taken a typical value of n to be 0.95 for n < 1 and 1.05 for n > 1 [21]. So, we are content with
giving the typical values of power law index n as 0.95 when n < 1 and 1.05 when n > 1. Since, the typical values for non-
dimensional yield stress h for blood are between 0.02 and 0.04 and in the diseased state it is considerably higher, the value
of the yield stress has been taken to lie between 0.05 and 0.1 [3]. When the stenosis is symmetric, the value of the stenosis
shape parameter m is taken as 2, while for asymmetric stenosis, its value is taken in the range 3–6 [18]. The location of the
stenosis is assumed to lie between z = 0 and z = 8 and the height of the stenosis at the middle is taken to lie between 0.1 and
0.2. The amplitude parameter A is taken in the range 0.2–0.5. The value of pulsatile Reynolds number is generally taken as 0.5
and only to pronounce its effect, we have taken the range 0.2–0.7 [21]. Eq. (42) has been solved for x using Newton–Raphson
method for the values of n = 0.95, 1.05 taking QS = 1.0. Only that root which gives realistic value for plug core radius has been
considered (there are only two real roots in the range 0 to 20 and the other root gives values for plug core radius that exceeds
tube radius R).

4.1. Plug core radius

Figs. 2a and 2b depict the variation of plug core radius in a time cycle for different values of A, h and a with n = 0.95 and
n = 1.05, respectively. The plug core radius decreases as time t increases from 0° to 90° and then it decreases as t increases
from 90° to 270° and then again it decreases as t increases further from 270° to 360°. The plug core radius is minimum at 90°
and maximum at 270°. It is noted that for a given set of values of A and a, the plug core radius increases significantly as the

Fig. 2a. Variation of plug core radius in a time cycle at the middle of the stenosis for different values of A, h and a with n = 0.95.

Fig. 2b. Variation of plug core radius in a time cycle at the middle of the stenosis for different values of A, h and a with n = 1.05.
 D.S. Sankar, U. Lee / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 14 (2009) 2971–2981 2977

yield stress h increases. When the amplitude A of the flow increases and for the given set of values of a and h, the plug core
radius decreases when time t lies between 0° and 180° and, increases when t lies between 180° and 360°. Also, it is found
that for the increasing values of the pulsatile Reynolds number a, the plug core radius increases slightly when t lies between
0° and 90° and also between 270° and 360° and, it decreases slightly when t lies between 90 and 270°, when the other
parameters held constant. From Figs. 2a and 2b, it is observed that the plug core radius increases marginally as the power
law index n increases. Figs. 2a and 2b show the effects of amplitude of the flow, pulsatile Reynolds number and the non-
Newtonian of nature of blood when it flows through stenosed arteries. Since, there is no considerable difference in the values
of plug core radius for the values 0.95 and 1.05 of the power law index, in the rest of the analyses we have used the value of
the power law index as 0.95.
The variation of the plug core radius with axial distance for different values of A and d with t = 60°, a = 0.5, n = 0.95 and
h = 0.05 is shown in Figs. 3. The plug core radius Rp decreases as the axial distance z increases from 0 to 4 and increases as the

Fig. 3. Variation of plug core radius with axial distance for different values of A and d with n = 0.95, t = 60° and a = 0.5.

Fig. 4. Variation of pressure drop in a time cycle for different values of A, h and d with n = 0.95.

Fig. 5. Velocity distribution during a time cycle with n = 0.95, z = 0.4, A = a = 0.5, h = 0.05, d = 0.1 and m=2.
2978 D.S. Sankar, U. Lee / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 14 (2009) 2971–2981

axial distance increases further from 4 to 8. The plug core radius is lowest at the middle of the stenosis. One can notice that
there is no change in the plug core radius values for blood flow in arteries without stenosis (d = 0). Further, it is noted that the
plug core radius decreases as the height of the stenosis d or the amplitude A of the flow increases.

4.2. Pressure drop

The variation of pressure drop in a time cycle for different values of A, d and h with n = 0.95 and a = 0.5 is shown in Fig. 4.
The pressure drop increases as the time t increases from 0° to 90° and it decreases as t increases from 90° to 270° and again it
increases when t increases further from 270° to 360°. The pressure drop is maximum at 90° and minimum at 270°. It is found
that the pressure drop increases marginally when the yield stress h or the height of the stenosis d increases, while the ampli-
tude of the flow is kept constant. It is clear that for a given set of values of d and h and when the amplitude A of the flow
increases, the pressure drop increases when the time t lies between 0° and 180° and, it decreases when t lies between
180° and 360°. Fig. 4 sketches the effects of the stenosis height, amplitude of the flow and non-Newtonian nature of the
blood when it flows through the stenosed arteries.

4.3. Velocity distribution

The velocity distribution during a time cycle with n = 0.95, z = 4, A = a = 0.5, h = 0.05, d = 0.1 and m = 2 is shown in Fig. 5.
One can notice the plug flow around the middle of the tube. Further, it is found that the velocity increases as the time t in-
creases from 0° to 90° and then it deceases from t = 90° to t = 90° to t = 270° and then again it increases from 270° to 360°.
Fig. 6 depicts the velocity distribution for different values of A, a, d and h with n = 0.95, z = 4, t = 60° and m = 2. For a given set
of values of a, d and h, the velocity increases considerably around the axis of the artery and slightly near the wall of the artery
when the amplitude A of the flow increases. But, the reverse behavior is noticed when each of the parameters a, d and h in-
creases while the amplitude A of the flow is held constant. The variation in the velocity is very small when the pulsatile Rey-
nolds number a or yield stress h increases, whereas the variation in the velocity distribution is considerable when the
stenosis height d increases. Fig. 6 illustrates the influence of the amplitude of the flow, stenosis height, pulsatile Reynolds
number and the non-Newtonian nature of blood when it flows through the stenosed artery.

Fig. 6. Velocity distribution for different values of A, h, d and a with n = 0.95, z = 4 and t = 60°.

Fig. 7. Variation of wall shear stress with axial distance for different values of A, a and h with n = 0.95, t = 60° and d = 0.1.
 D.S. Sankar, U. Lee / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 14 (2009) 2971–2981 2979

4.4. Wall shear stress

The variation of the wall shear stress with axial distance for different values of A, a and h with n = 0.95, t = 60 and d = 0.1 is
sketched in Fig. 7. It is noted that the wall shear stress increases as the axial distance increases z from 0 to 4 and then it
decreases as z increases from 4 to 8. The maximum wall shear stress occurs at the middle of the stenosis. For a given value
of the pulsatile Reynolds number a, the wall shear stress increases when the amplitude A of the flow increases or the yield
stress h increases; but, the increase is significant when the amplitude A of the flow increases and the increase is marginal
when the yield stress h increases. The wall shear stress decreases with the increase of the pulsatile Reynolds number a when
all the other parameters held constant. Fig. 8 depicts the variation of wall shear stress with axial distance for difference val-
ues of the parameter m (which corresponds to the shape of the stenosis) with n = 0.95, A = a = 0.5, t = 45°, h = 0.05 and d = 0.1.
It is clear that the value m = 2, corresponds to the axially symmetric stenosis and as the value of the parameter m increases
from 2 to 6, the corresponding plots exhibits the asymmetry of the stenosis in terms of the wall shear stress. As the value of
the parameter m increases, the wall shear stress increases significantly and also skewed to the right-hand side.

Fig. 8. Variation of wall shear stress with axial distance for different values of m with n = 0.95, A = 0.5, t = 45°, d = 0.1, h = 0.05 and a = 0.5.

Fig. 9. Variation of longitudinal impedance with axial distance for different values of m and d with n = 0.95, t = 60°, A = a = 0.5 and h = 0.05.

Table 1
Increase in longitudinal impedance for different values of d and z with n = 0.95, h = 0.05, t = 60°, A = a = 0.5 and m = 2.

d z=0 z=1 z=2 z=3 z=4

0.05 1 1.0938 1.1675 1.2149 1.2312
0.1 1 1.1988 1.3721 1.4914 1.5339
0.15 1 1.3169 1.6239 1.8519 1.9368
0.2 1 1.4502 1.9368 2.3293 2.4821
0.25 1 1.6008 2.3293 2.9719 3.2343
0.3 1 1.7717 2.8271 3.8526 4.2952
0.35 1 1.9662 3.4656 5.0855 5.8290
0.4 1 2.1883 4.2953 6.8529 8.1114
0.45 1 2.4428 5.3887 9.4569 11.6232
0.5 1 2.7355 6.8529 13.4173 17.2463
2980 D.S. Sankar, U. Lee / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 14 (2009) 2971–2981

Table 2
Increase in longitudinal impedance for different values of z and m with n = 0.95, h = 0.05, t = 60°, A = a = 0.5 and d = 0.1.

M z=0 z=1 z=2 z=3 z=4 z=5 z=6 z=7 z=8

3 1 1.0905 1.2354 1.4136 1.5761 1.6465 1.5597 1.3183 1
4 1 1.1660 1.4549 1.9011 2.4625 2.8794 2.7145 1.9034 1
5 1 1.2423 1.6865 2.4905 3.8114 5.2913 5.2789 3.0272 1
6 1 1.3229 1.9492 3.2369 5.9074 10.2675 11.6861 5.3865 1

4.5. Longitudinal impedance

The variation of the longitudinal impedance with the axial distance for different values of the stenosis shape parameter m
and stenosis height parameter d with n = 0.95, t = 60, A = a = 0.5 and h = 0.05 is plotted in Fig. 9. For m = 2, there is not much
of the difference in the values of impedance over the axial distance. It is clear that for a given value of d and for the increasing
values of the stenosis shape parameter m from 3 to 6, there is a sharp increase in the impedance of the flow and also the plots
are skewed to the right-hand side. Also, it is found that the longitudinal impedance increases with the increase of the ste-
nosis height d, when all the other parameters held fixed.
The increase in the longitudinal impedance is defined as the ratio between the impedance of a particular fluid in the ste-
nosed artery for a given set of values of the parameters to the longitudinal impedance of the same fluid in the unstenosed
artery and for the same set of values of the parameters. The estimates of the increase in the longitudinal impedance for dif-
ferent values of the height of the stenosis d and at the different locations z of the stenosis with n = 0.95, h = 0.05, t = 60°,
A = a = 0.5 and m = 2 are given in Table 1. Since, the stenosis shape parameter m value is taken as 2 which corresponds to
the axis symmetric stenosis, the values are tabulated only between z = 0 and z = 4. These estimates bring out the effect of
stenosis on the longitudinal impedance. It is observed that the estimates of the increase in the longitudinal impedance in-
crease with the increase of the axial distance or with the increase of the stenosis height. When the stenosis height increases
beyond 0.35, there is a nonlinear increase in the estimates of the increase in the longitudinal impedance. The estimates of the
increase in longitudinal impedance for different values stenosis shape parameter m at different locations z of the stenosis
with n = 0.95, h = 0.05, t = 60°, A = a = 0.5 and d = 0.1 are given in Table 2. Since, the values 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the stenosis shape
parameter corresponds to the asymmetric stenosis, these estimates reflect the effects of asymmetry of the stenosis on the
longitudinal impedance.

5. Conclusion

In the present study, the pulsatile flow of Herschel–Bulkley fluid through a mild axisymmetric stenosed artery and asym-
metric stenosed artery is considered using a perturbation method. It is found that, the plug core radius, pressure drop and
wall shear stress increase with the increase of yield stress or the stenosis height. The velocity and the wall shear stress in-
crease considerably with the increase of the amplitude A of the flow. It is clear that for a given value of d and for the increas-
ing values of the stenosis shape parameter m from 3 to 6, there is a sharp increase in the impedance of the flow and also the
plots are skewed to the right-hand side. It is observed that the estimates of the increase in the longitudinal impedance in-
crease with the increase of the axial distance or with the increase of the stenosis height. Thus, the present study also brings
out the effects of asymmetry of the stenosis on the flow quantities.
From the above analysis of the hydrodynamic factors in the understanding of the hemodynamics, it may be concluded
that the present model could be more useful for investigating the blood flow through stenosed tubes, since the Newtonian
behavior of blood is no longer exits in diseased state. Also, more interesting models can be studied by considering the vis-
coelastic effects of blood and the permeability of the wall. These studies will be done in the near future.

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