MICROPOLAR FLUID MODEL FOR BLOOD FLOW THROUGH A STENOSED ARTERY

Abstract

Various experimental observations have demonstrated that the classical fluid theory is incapable of explaining many phenomena at micro and nano scales. On the other hand, micropolar fluid dynamics can naturally pick up the physical phenomena at these scales owing to its additional degrees of freedom caused by incorporating the effects of fluid molecules on the continuum. Therefore, one of the aims of this paper is to investigate the applicability of the theory of micropolar fluids to modeling and calculating flows in circular microchannels depending on the geometrical dimension of the flow field. Hence, a finite element formulation for the numerical analysis of micropolar laminar fluid flow is developed. In order to validate the results of the FE formulation, the analytical and exact solution of the micropolar Hagen–Poiseuille flow in a circular microchannel is presented, and an excellent agreement between the results of the analytical solution and those of the FE formulation is observed. It is also shown that the micropolar viscosity and the length scale parameter have significant roles on changing the flow characteristics. Then, the behavior of an incompressible viscous fluid flow such as blood flow in a stenosed artery, having multiple kinds of stenoses, is investigated. The obtained results are compared to the results reported in the literature, and an excellent agreement is observed.