Abstract: The hemodynamic mechanism of rolling manipulation (RM) of traditional Chinese medical massage (TCMM) is investigated. An axisymmetrical nonlinear model and an arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian finite element method (ALE-FEM) with rezoning algorithm were introduced to study the viscous flow through an axisymmetrical rigid tube with axially moving stenosis to simulate the rolling manipulation. Flow rate and wall shear stress were obtained by solving complete Navier-Stokes equations numerically. The numerical results show that the stenosis moving frequency, namely the frequency of rolling manipulation, has great effect on the disturbance of flow and the wall shear stress. The stenosis coefficient, which characterizes the severity of the stenosis, another adjustable parameter in rolling manipulation, also shows the significant effect on flow rate and wall shear stress. These numerical results may provide some data that can be taken into consideration when massage is used in clinic.

Key words: Lagrangian-Eulerian finite element method, traditional Chinese medical massage(TCMM), rolling manipulation (RM), moving stenosed vessel, blood flow