A Numerical Simulation of the Flow in a T-Type Bifurcation and Its Application to an “End to Side” Fistula

Some recent surgical procedures such as arteriovenous fistula, or coronary and cerebral by-passes were observed to yield counterdirectional branching blood flows. There is a lack of knowledge about the role of the counterdirectional flow ratio, the angle of anastomosis and the shear stresses in the process of thrombogenesis that leads to shunt occlusion. The program developed to simulate these hemodynamic conditions uses an efficient numerical scheme for the solution of the 2-D Navier-Stokes equations and can be easily adapted to flows in other geometrical configurations.