A traceless variant of the Johnson-Segalman viscoelastic model is presented and appliedto blood flow simulations. The viscoelastic extra stress tensor is decomposed into itstraceless (deviatoric) and spherical parts, leading to a reformulation of the classicalJohnson-Segalman model. The equivalence of the two models is established comparing modelpredictions for simple test cases. The new model is validated using several 2D benchmarkproblems, designed to reproduce difficulties that arise in the simulation of blood flow inblood vessels or medical devices. The structure and behaviour of the new model arediscussed and the future use of the new model in envisioned, both on the theoretical andnumerical perspectives.
