Pulsatile Blood Flow in Arterial Bifurcation CFD Simulation

Project Overview

This project presents an ANSYS Fluent simulation of time-dependent pulsatile blood flow through a simplified arterial bifurcation model.

Geometry and Meshing

The fluid domain was created in Design Modeler, with mesh generation performed in ANSYS Meshing. An unstructured mesh containing 168,367 elements was employed for the computational domain.

Boundary Conditions

Blood mass flow rates are specified as 0.001570178 kg/s at the inlet and 0.00078576 kg/s at each outlet. Inlet blood pressure is set at 250 Pa (approximately 1.87515 mmHg). For reference, physiological blood pressure in major human arteries typically ranges between 80 and 120 mmHg.

Pulsatile Flow Implementation

The pulsatile characteristics of blood flow are captured through a User-Defined Function (UDF), which modulates inlet velocity as a sinusoidal function of time, replicating the cardiac cycle’s rhythmic nature.

Results and Clinical Insights

The transient solver provides time-resolved flow data, with results presented at t = 0.162s, corresponding to peak systolic velocity. The simulation yields clinically relevant insights into arterial pathology susceptibility.

High-Pressure Risk Zones: Pressure contour analysis at t = 0.16s reveals critical stress concentrations at the bifurcation apex, where flow streams diverge. Blood pressure reaches 125 Pa at this location—approximately half the inlet pressure—identifying this region as vulnerable to arterial wall rupture.

Stenosis-Prone Regions: Wall Shear Stress (WSS) distribution analysis identifies areas susceptible to stenosis formation. Consistent with medical literature establishing low WSS as a stenosis predictor, the bifurcation apex exhibits minimal shear stress values, indicating heightened risk for atherosclerotic plaque development and subsequent arterial narrowing.