Comparison of Experimental and Numerical Simulations of Flow within an Arterio-Venous Graft

This was a study to compare computational and experimental results of flow field inside the venous anastomosis of an arteriovenous (AV) graft. Laser Doppler anemometry (LDA) measurements were conducted inside an upscaled end-to-side graft model under steady flow conditions at Reynolds number 1820 which is representative of the in vivo flow conditions inside a human AV graft. The distribution of the velocity and turbulence intensity was measured at several locations in the plane of the bifurcation. This flow field was simulated using computation fluid dynamics (CFD) and shown to be in good agreement. Under steady flow conditions, the flow field demonstrated an unsteady character (transition to turbulence).