Investigation of Sutterby fluid flow through elliptic multi-stenosed artery: analytical solutions of blood flow problem

Abstract

Purpose

The presence and progression of stenosis disturb the normal circulation of blood through an artery and cause serious consequences. The proposed investigation is aimed to assess non-Newtonian characteristics of blood in an elliptical artery having stenosis. The blood is taken as Sutterby fluid flowing via a multi-stenosed elliptical cross-section artery.

Design/methodology/approach

The analytical solution of a mathematical model representing the considered problem is extracted in a non-dimensional form by utilizing the perturbation technique under the mild stenosis assumptions.

Findings

The graphical nature of these results is examined and discussed comprehensively for different physical parameters. The height and shape of stenosis are noted to have prominent effects on flow velocity. The wall shear stress and flow velocity attained high values in the stenotic portion of the artery. The non-uniform stenosis is observed to create higher resistance to the flow than the uniform stenosis. Further, a high disorder is noticed in the constricted region of the artery by streamlines analysis.

Research limitations/implications

The manuscript completely comprehends the blood’s non-Newtonian flow in the arteries of elliptical shape having multiple stenoses. The present study is about the properties of non-Newtonian blood flow through an elliptical artery with many stenoses. The Sutterby fluid model is used to describe the blood’s non-Newtonian nature. By utilizing presumptions of mild stenosis, the mathematical model’s non-linearity is decreased, and the perturbation method is applied to generate the resulting equations.

Practical implications

The presence of stenosis can significantly impact the circulation of blood flow. When an artery becomes narrowed, it can create a constriction or obstruction in the flow path of blood, which can lead to several important fluid dynamics phenomena, i.e. increased velocity, shear stress, pressure drop, etc. The presence of stenosis can cause various damages and complications in the affected blood arteries and surrounding tissues, resulting in heart attacks or diseases like atherosclerosis.

Originality/value

The work presented in the manuscript was not published earlier in any form.

Citation

Awan, A.U., Shahzad, M.H., Nadeem, S., Hamam, H., Ahammad, N.A. and Arshad, A. (2025), "Investigation of Sutterby fluid flow through elliptic multi-stenosed artery: analytical solutions of blood flow problem", Multidiscipline Modeling in Materials and Structures, Vol. 21 No. 1, pp. 199-216. https://doi.org/10.1108/MMMS-07-2024-0209