On the secondary flow through bifurcating pipes

The secondary motion induced by flow through curves and bifurcations has been subject to investigation over long time due to its importance in physiological and technological applications. In contrast to the flow in a straight pipe, curvature leads to the formation of secondary flow which is often unsteady. Streamline curvature occurs also in bifurcating pipes leading to some corresponding secondary, unsteady flow. This paper presents a detailed description of the unsteady flow in the daughter branch after a 90 degrees bifurcation. A range of Reynolds and Womersley numbers are investigated. The results show the presence of Dean vortices and additional vortical patterns not reported in the literature. Both the streamwise (axial) and the secondary velocity components change character at larger Womersley numbers, leading to less complex secondary flow. Also, at larger Reynolds numbers, flow instabilities are observed. The secondary flow may lead to the formation of unsteady separation bubbles. This in turn yields peaks in the wall shear stress components. Such wall shear stress variations have often been related in the literature to the development process of atherosclerosis. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3484266]