An ideal fluid has insignificant viscosity, but an ideal flow is one in which the influence of viscosity can be neglected in comparison with other factors influences, like the momentum. For blood flow through arteries, the viscosity influence is important so it's not an ideal flow. Can anyone tell me which of the above assumptions are true?
A good reference is the recent article in Annual Reviews of Fluid Mechanics "Airflow and Particle Transport in the Human Respiratory System" by Kleinstreuer and Zang, Annu. Rev. Fluid Mech. 2010. 42:301–34. It is a comprehensive review that deals with various laminar/turbulent model as well as simulation results for various types of airways, e.g., nasal, oral, lungs, etc. Because most airways can have bifurcated structures, the issue of eddies, flow separation, etc are important. Simply neglecting viscosity is not realistic.
I would add that it is a common assumption that viscous effects for air flows can be neglected, but that it is also incorrect. Kinematic viscosity for air is around an order of magnitude higher than that of water, for example. Further, when flowing in small passages, Reynolds numbers will be relatively low, so viscous effects will be important to consider.
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