NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION ON NON-NEWTONIAN FLOWS THROUGH DOUBLE CONSTRICTIONS BY AN UNSTRUCTURED FINITE VOLUME METHOD

This article presents a numerical investigation on a steady non-Newtonian flow through a two-dimensional channel with double constrictions. The power-law mode is employed in describing the non-Newtonian behavior of the flow. An unstructured finite volume method combined with a fractional-step projection method is developed for the discretization of incompressible equations governing the non-Newtonian flows. The important flow dynamics related with the arterial diseases, such as the wall shear stress and vortex generation, are also numerically studied in detail. Numerical results reveal that there are marked differences between Newtonian and non-Newtonian models.