Effects of unsteadiness and non-Newtonian rheology on blood flow through a tapered time-variant stenotic artery

A two-dimensional model is used to analyze the unsteady pulsatile flow of blood through a tapered artery with stenosis. The rheology of the flowing blood is captured by the constitutive equation of Carreau model. The geometry of the time-variant stenosis has been used to carry out the present analysis. The flow equations are set up under the assumption that the lumen radius is sufficiently smaller than the wavelength of the pulsatile pressure wave. A radial coordinate transformation is employed to immobilize the effect of the vessel wall. The resulting partial differential equations along with the boundary and initial conditions are solved using finite difference method. The dimensionless radial and axial velocity, volumetric flow rate, resistance impedance and wall shear stress are analyzed for normal and diseased artery with particular focus on variation of these quantities with non-Newtonian parameters.