ABSTRACT

In this study, the impact of a transverse magnetic field on blood flowing through an axisymmetric curved shaped stenotic artery has been investigated. This research is of importance in the field of medicine. There is an application in magnetic hyperthermia which is used to shrink tumors in the treatment of cancer. In addition to this, the externally applied magnetic field is also used to reduce/diminish blood flow in the region of stenosis and hence it is used in the treatment of hypertension and to control atherosclerosis. There had been in depth research in this area where various flow parameters had been investigated and discussed. However, the magnetic field effect on the temperature of a Newtonian model of blood taking into consideration an axisymmetric curved shaped stenotic artery had not been given much emphasis. For our problem therefore, the specific objective was to investigate the effect that a transverse magnetic field had on temperature, pressure and velocity of blood and the effect of varying some non-dimensional numbers on velocity and temperature. Some of the assumptions that were made in this study were that blood is incompressible, homogenous, laminar and electrically conducting. The governing equations for our problem were first of all converted to a simpler format through nondimensionalization and then they were solved numerically using finite difference method. This involved converting the partial differential equations governing our problem into algebraic finite difference equations. These were then solved using MATLAB which generated the results in graphical form. From the results, we concluded that when a transverse magnetic field was applied to blood flowing through an axi-symmetric stenotic artery, the velocity of the fluid decreased. Hence this ensures that plaque rupture does not occur. In addition to this, the transverse magnetic field was seen to increase the temperature of the blood.