Hemorheology and the Flow Behavior in a Separated Flow Region

Separating flows can be encountered in the cardiovascular circulatory system and many biomedical applications such as artificial organs, rotary blood pumps, heart valves, stents, catheters, and probes. The current study investigates the influence of hemorheology on the flow behavior in a confined separated flow region. Recent hemorheological models and data are utilized to account for the yield stress and shear-thinning non-Newtonian characteristics of human blood. The flow field information is obtained by numerically solving the governing mass and momentum conservation equations along with the Herschel-Bulkley rheological model. The yield shear-thinning model always results in the smallest flow separation region. The yield stress and shear-thinning non-Newtonian models predict lower recirculation strength in comparison with the Newtonian model.