Effects of couple stresses on the blood flow through an artery with mild stenosis

Abstract

An analysis of the effects of couple stresses on the blood flow through thin artery in the presence of very mild stenosis has been carried out with the help of two nondimensional parameters, $\overline{\mathit{\alpha }}$ (the length ratio parameter) and $\overline{\mathit{\eta }}$ (the parameter characterizing the antisymmetric property of the couple stress tensor). It is shown that an increase in the couple stress (small value of $\overline{\mathit{\alpha }}$ and $\overline{\mathit{\eta }}$ ), increases the resistance to the flow and the wall shear stress. These characteristics are further enhanced by the presence of the stenosis.