VALIDATION OF NUMERICAL-SIMULATION OF INCOMPRESSIBLE PULSATILE FLOW IN A CONSTRICTED CHANNEL

The incompressible pulsatile laminar flow in a two-dimensional constricted channel is simulated numerically by solving the Navier-Stokes equations with a fractional step method. A complex flow field is obtained downstream of the constriction with trains of moving vortices along the two walls and a wavy core flow between them. The validation of time-dependent flows is very important because in many cases numerical simulations are the primary source of data. The present article describes the validation procedure of the solution. The numerical model is verified by a series of tests. The tests include mesh-size and time-step refinement studies, as well as critical examination of the location and type of boundary conditions. Comparisons with experimental results for a wide range of physical parameters confirm the accuracy of the solution.