The effect of pulsatile frequency on wall shear in a compliant cast of a human aortic bifurcation

A realistically compliant flow-through cast of a human aortic bifurcation was perfused with two almost identical physiological flow waves differing in pulsatile frequency. Near-wall fluid velocities were measured with a laser Doppler velocimeter at 14 sites along the flow divider and the lateral walls of the aorta and iliac arteries. The wall position at each site was tracked using a linescan camera. The temporal wall shear rate at each site was then calculated from the near-wall velocity profile and the instantaneous wall position. Increasing the frequency reduced the oscillatory component of shear rate at sites where it was greater than average, and increased it at sites where it was less, effectively reducing its site to site variability. Pulsatile frequency had no significant effect on mean shear rate at most sites. The phase shift between wall shear and radial strain was governed by the phase of the shear, and was linearly related to the extent of site dependent shear reversal. The mean shear rate was inversely related to the extent of shear reversal. If atherosclerotic development depends chiefly on mean shear rate, heart rate would not be expected to affect susceptibility, however, if only the wall sites experiencing the lowest maximum shears are vulnerable, then the effect of increasing the heart rate would seem to be beneficial.