Abstract
The thoracic aorta after arterial switch operation has abnormal curvature and torsion at the beginning of the ascending aorta due to geometric interferences with the pulmonary artery. It is, consequently, predicted that blood flow in the postoperative aorta becomes more complicated. However, there are few studies on blood flow field in the postoperative aorta, so CFD analysis is necessary for the better understanding. In this research, blood flow in the normal and the postoperative thoracic aorta is simulated by use of incompressible Navier-Stokes equation. Each thoracic aortic model is made by medical imaging data, and virtual flux method is applied to calculate blood flow on Cartesian grid. It is found that secondary flows in the postoperative model are more complicated than that in the normal model. In addition, it is observed that maximal value of wall shear stress for the postoperative model is higher than that for the normal model.
