Numerical demonstration of Dean-type secondary flows in the human aorta, corroborated by clinical data

The human aortic arch is a system that is being organized by curvature–inertia coupling into cross-sectional flow that is organized into Dean-type vortices whose strength can be quantified using the Dean number. The current research re-formulated patient-specific arches based on contrast-enhanced computed tomography angiography and established four centerline-orthogonal planes of analysis between the distal ascending and proximal descending segments. Planes A and B are in the distal ascending part; Plane C is close to the apex of the arch, and Plane D is in the proximal descending aorta above the isthmus. Magnetic resonance imaging was used to get inflow waveforms/branch splits and through-plane velocities that were compared. Near-wall resolved, physiology-based computational fluid dynamics (Newtonian blood; unsteady Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes shear stress transport; y+