Pulsatile MHD flow of a Casson fluid through a porous bifurcated arterial stenosis under periodic body acceleration

A mathematical model on the pulsatile flow of a Casson fluid through a porous stenosed artery with bifurcation in the presence of magnetic field and periodic body acceleration has been developed in the present study. The governing equation is expressed in terms of shear stress and the resulting momentum equation with the initial and boundary conditions is solved numerically by adopting finite difference schemes. The velocity distribution is obtained at different locations of the artery for various values of parameters involved in the study. The combined effects of bifurcation angle, stenotic height, yield stress, Hartmann number, Darcy number and time period on flow variables such as velocity, wall shear stress and resistive impedance have been observed. The shear stress along the outer wall of the parent artery is less than its corresponding value on the inner wall of the daughter artery. The shear stress along the outer wall of the parent artery and the inner wall of the daughter artery increase as Hartmann number increases. It is of interest to note that the flow resistance has a decreasing trend with the increasing value of half of the bifurcation angle and Darcy number. The wall shear stress and flow resistance are increased when the rheology of blood is changed from Newtonian to Casson fluid. It is worthwhile to note that the presence of magnetic field and porous medium increases the plug core radius which is for the first time, added to the literature. The plug core radius increases with increase in yield stress and decrease in stenotic height. (C) 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.