In the abdominal segment of the human aorta under a patient’s average resting conditions, pulsatile blood flow exhibits complex laminar patterns with secondary flows induced by adjacent branches and irregular vessel geometries. The flow dynamics becomes more complex when there is a pathological condition that causes changes in the normal structural composition of the vessel wall, for example, in the presence of an aneurysm. This work examines the hemodynamics of pulsatile blood flow in hypothetical three-dimensional models of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs). Numerical predictions of blood flow patterns and hemodynamic stresses in AAAs are performed in single-aneurysm, asymmetric, rigid wall models using the finite element method. We characterize pulsatile flow dynamics in AAAs for average resting conditions by means of identifying regions of disturbed flow and quantifying the disturbance by evaluating flow-induced stresses at the aneurysm wall, specifically wall pressure and wall shear stress. Physiologically realistic abdominal aortic blood flow is simulated under pulsatile conditions for the range of time-average Reynolds numbers corresponding to a range of peak Reynolds numbers The vortex dynamics induced by pulsatile flow in AAAs is depicted by a sequence of four different flow phases in one period of the cardiac pulse. Peak wall shear stress and peak wall pressure are reported as a function of the time-average Reynolds number and aneurysm asymmetry. The effect of asymmetry in hypothetically shaped AAAs is to increase the maximum wall shear stress at peak flow and to induce the appearance of secondary flows in late diastole.
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April 2003
Technical Papers
The Effect of Asymmetry in Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms Under Physiologically Realistic Pulsatile Flow Conditions
E. A. Finol, ASME Member, Research Assistant Professor,,
E. A. Finol, ASME Member, Research Assistant Professor,
Institute for Complex Engineered Systems, Faculty, Biomedical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213
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K. Keyhani, Staff Engineer,,
K. Keyhani, Staff Engineer,
Research and Development, Asyst Technologies, Fremont, CA 94538
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C. H. Amon, ASME Life Fellow, Raymond J. Lane Distinguished Professor,
C. H. Amon, ASME Life Fellow, Raymond J. Lane Distinguished Professor,
Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and Institute for Complex Engineered Systems, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213
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E. A. Finol, ASME Member, Research Assistant Professor,
Institute for Complex Engineered Systems, Faculty, Biomedical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213
K. Keyhani, Staff Engineer,
Research and Development, Asyst Technologies, Fremont, CA 94538
C. H. Amon, ASME Life Fellow, Raymond J. Lane Distinguished Professor,
Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and Institute for Complex Engineered Systems, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Contributed by the Bioengineering Division for publication in the JOURNAL OF BIOMECHANICAL ENGINEERING. Manuscript received Feb. 2002; revised manuscript received Nov. 2002. Associate Editor: J. E. Moore, Jr.
J Biomech Eng. Apr 2003, 125(2): 207-217 (11 pages)
Published Online: April 9, 2003
Article history
Received:
February 1, 2002
Revised:
November 1, 2002
Online:
April 9, 2003
Citation
Finol, E. A., Keyhani, K., and Amon, C. H. (April 9, 2003). "The Effect of Asymmetry in Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms Under Physiologically Realistic Pulsatile Flow Conditions ." ASME. J Biomech Eng. April 2003; 125(2): 207–217. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.1543991
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