Blood flow vectoring control in aortic arch using full and partial clamps

Early diagnosis and treatment of aneurysm plays an important role in reducing the mortality risk of rupture. The aneurysm is a complex phenomenon and caused by different reasons, such as arteriosclerosis and heredity. In addition, pressure and Wall Shear Stress are two known factors influencing the establishment of an aneurysm. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of using a full or partial clamp to control the blood flow streamlines and hence the location of stress concentration in a clean configuration of aorta. The main question is how to control the stresses distribution in order to reduce the possibility of aneurysm growth with less negative effects on the other sides.

A simple form of aortic arch with three branches is considered to simulate the effect of changing blood flow streamlines directions. A parameter study has been performed on the main characteristics of clamp, i.e. size, location, and the percentage of coverage. The Shear Stress Transport model is employed to simulate steady-state Newtonian blood flow when the Reynolds number is about 6500. Simulations are conducted using the commercial CFD solver ANSYS Fluent. The obtained results show that the location of clamp is more effective than the size. It is also found that increasing the depth of clamp has a negative impact on mean velocity field and hence on stress concentration.

The present results demonstrate that the Blood Flow Vectoring Control (BFVC) can change the main form of flow streamlines and consequently the distributions of pressure and Wall Shear Stress. A partial clamp leads to better results.