Journal of Mechanics in Medicine and Biology Vol. 10, No. 2 (2010) 251–272 c  World Scientific Publishing Company DOI: 10.1142/S0219519410003393 NUMERICAL MODELING OF PULSATILE FLOW OF BLOOD THROUGH A STENOSED TAPERED ARTERY UNDER PERIODIC BODY ACCELERATION GAURAV VARSHNEY ∗ and V. K. KATIYAR † Department of Mathematics Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee–247667, India ∗ gauvadma@iitr.ernet.in † vktmafma@iitr.ernet.in SUSHIL KUMAR University Institute of Engineering and Technology CSJM University, Kanpur–208001, India skumar.iitr@gmail.com Received 24 August 2008 Revised 4 July 2009 Accepted 5 August 2009 A mathematical model is developed for the pulsatile flow of blood through a stenosed tapered artery under the influence of externally imposed body acceleration. The artery is assumed as a cylindrical tube with time-dependent radius having mild stenosis and the non-Newtonian behavior of blood is characterized by generalized Power-law model. The governing equations are transformed by using a radial transformation and solved numerically by a suitable finite difference scheme in order to obtain the velocity, fluid acceleration, wall shear stress, and flow rate. The effect of stenosis severity, tapering, and externally imposed body acceleration on the blood flow in artery is discussed with the help of graph. It is found that all flow characteristics are affected by the stenosis severity, tapering, and periodic acceleration applied on the body. Keywords : Blood flow; body acceleration; stenosis; tapering; finite difference method. 1. Introduction Arterial stenosis is one of the most serious forms of arterial disease. The presence of a stenosis restricts blood flow in the artery and makes an artery work in the direc- tion that is opposite to the direction of a healthy one. Atherosclerosis, a disease in which plaque builds up on the inside of the arteries, is strongly related to the characteristic of the blood flow in arteries. Hemodynamics i.e. fluid dynamic-related phenomena play an important role in the initiation and progression of atheroscle- rosis. Atherosclerotic lesions are found preferentially at specific sites in the arterial ∗ Corresponding author. 251