Wall Shear Stress in Turbulent Pipe Flow

Low and/or oscillatory Wall Shear Stress (WSS) has been correlated with elevated risk for increased intima media thickness and atherosclerosis in several studies during the last decades [1, 2]. Most of the studies have addressed laminar flows, in which the oscillations mainly are due to the pulsating nature of blood flow. Turbulent flows however show significant spatial and temporal fluctuations although the mean flow is steady.