The effect of vascular curvature and torsion on blood flow patterns

What is it about?

The location of vascular disease is associated with flow-related quantities that are changed by vascular geometry, such as mechanical stresses caused by blood flow. We present a novel method to investigate the physical mechanisms by which vascular curvature and torsion affect blood flow patterns in curved vessels. This involves data reduction from three to one spacial dimensions. Our analysis is illustrated in single and double bends, helical bends, and a rabbit thoracic aorta.

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Why is it important?

Three-dimensional simulations produce such large quantities of data that are unlikely to be of clinical use unless methods are available to simplify our understanding of the flow dynamics. We show a new method to separate the effect on blood flow patterns of inertial forces, which directly depend on vascular curvature and torsion, pressure gradient and viscous forces. This is achieved by expressing the Navier–Stokes equations in a coordinate system centred on the centreline of the vessel.