Numerical model and experimental investigation of blood flow through a bifurcation: Interaction between an artery and a small prosthesis

The use of prosthetic vascular grafts as bypass to arteries of small diameter (<5 mm) often is thwarted by occlusion after months of apparently normal function. This work presents a numeric simulation of the flow through a distal anastomosis. A finite element method has been applied, providing informalion on the velocity field, streamlines, wall shear stresses, and vorticity in the different geometries. The study illustrates the dependence of the flow pattern and wall shear stress distribution upon Reynolds number, and the results show high shear stresses, approximately 3-5 times larger than normal, acting on the vessel wall at the branching point for the small diameter branch.