Two-equation turbulence modeling of pulsatile flow in a stenosed tube

The study of pulsatile flow in stenosed vessels is of particular importance because of its significance in relation to blood flow in human pathophysiology. To date, however, there have been few comprehensive publications detailing systematic numerical simulations of turbulent pulsatile flow through stenotic tubes evaluated against comparable experiments. In this paper, two-equation turbulence modeling has been explored for sinusoidally pulsatile flow in 75% and 90% area reduction stenosed vessels, which undergoes a transition from laminar to turbulent flow as well as relaminarization. Wilcox's standard k-omega model and a transitional variant of the same model are employed for the numerical simulations. Steady flow through the stenosed tubes was considered first to establish the grid resolution and the correct inlet conditions on the basis of comprehensive comparisons of the detailed velocity and turbulence fields to experimental data. Inlet conditions based on Womersley flow were imposed at the inlet for all pulsatile cases and the results were compared to experimental data from the literature. In general, the transitional version of the k-omega model is shown to give a better overall representation of both steady and pulsatile flow. The standard model consistently over predicts turbulence at and downstream of the stenosis, which leads to premature recovery of the flow. While the transitional model often under-predicts the magnitude of the turbulence, the trends are well-described and the velocity field is superior to that predicted using the standard model. On the basis of this study, there appears to be some promise for simulating physiological pulsatile flows using a relatively simple two-equation turbulence model.