It has long been recognized that the forces and stresses produced by the blood flow on the walls of the cardiovascular system are central to the development of different cardiovascular diseases. However, up to now, the reason why arterial diseases occur at preferential sites is still not fully understood. This paper reviews the progress, made largely within the last decade, towards the use of 3D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models to simulate the blood flow dynamics and its interaction with the arterial wall within the human thoracic aorta (TA). We describe the technical aspects of model building, review methods to create anatomic and physiologic models, obtain material properties, assign boundary conditions, solve the equations governing blood flow, and describe the assumptions used in running the simulations. Detailed comparative information is provided in tabular format about the model setup, simulation results, and a summary of the major insights and contributions of each TA article reviewed. Several syntheses are given that summarize the research carried out by influential research groups, review important findings, discuss the methods employed, limitations, and opportunities for further research. We hope that this review will stimulate computational research that will contribute to the continued improvement of cardiovascular health through a strong interaction and cooperation between engineers and clinicians.

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This study presents full transient numerical simulations of a cross-flow vertical-axis marine current turbine (straight-bladed Darrieus type) with particular emphasis on the analysis of hydrodynamic characteristics. Turbine design and performance are studied using a time-accurate Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes commercial solver. A physical transient rotor-stator model with a sliding mesh technique is used to capture changes in flow field at a particular time step. A shear stress transport k-ω turbulence model was initially employed to model turbulent features of the flow. Two dimensional simulations are used to parametrically study the influence of selected geometrical parameters of the airfoil (camber, thickness, and symmetry-asymmetry) on the performance prediction (torque and force coefficients) of the turbine. As a result, torque increases with blade thickness-to-chord ratio up to 15% and camber reduces the average load in the turbine shaft. Additionally, the influence of blockage ratio, profile trailing edge geometry, and selected turbulence models on the turbine performance prediction is investigated.

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