Experimental and numerical analysis of the flow in stenosed carotid artery bifurcation models

In order to gain quantitative information of the variety fields in non-stenosed and stenosed models of the carotid artery bifurcation, Laser Doppler Anemometer (LDA) experiments and finite element computations have been performed. The experiments have been conducted in a 1:2.5 enlarged plexiglass model of the carotid artery bifurcation. Both axial and secondary velocities were measured as a function of time at locations of interest. The date were ensemble averaged and analysed in the frequency domain in order to find characteristic flow phenomena. The numerical computations have been performed by means of a finite element method. Both the experiments and the computations show that a shear layer, which is located at the border between a region with low shear rates at the non-divider wall and a region with high shear rates at the divider wall, is present in the carotid sinus. In this shear layer, flow disturbances are present at the onset of diastole. The main differences between the flow fields in the non-stenosed and the stenosed bifurcation are not present downstream of the stenosis but can be found in the shear layer and the area with high velocity