An idealized CFD model and a realistic one were used to investigate the effect of the 3-D distortion of the aortic arch on the blood flow and its pathophysiological significance with respect to the pathogenesis of the aortic aneurysm. From the results of the flow simulations, the distortion of the centerline of the pipe was shown to affect significantly the flow structure. A right-handed vortex at the descending arch, and a left-handed one at the end of the arch tended to develop in the realistic model. But the secondary flow did not become a single helix. The top of the arch was the region where complex spatial and temporal WSS distributed. It was also observed that the direction of WSS had a significant circumferential component at the top of the arch. © 2002 Taylor &amp
Francis Ltd.