Coupled fluid-structure interaction hemodynamics in a zero-pressure state corrected arterial geometry

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular fluid dynamics
• Biomedical engineering
• Computational mechanics

Background:

• Arterial wall distensibility significantly impacts blood flow dynamics in large arteries.
• Accurate hemodynamic simulations require patient-specific arterial geometry, ideally in a zero-pressure state.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a numerical method for fluid-structure interaction (FSI) in patient-specific carotid bifurcations.
• To investigate the impact of arterial zero-pressure state recovery on hemodynamic simulations.

Main Methods:

• Utilized inverse finite elastostatics to determine the zero-pressure geometry from pressurized in vivo data.
• Performed time-dependent finite element method (FEM) simulations incorporating a coupled-momentum FSI approach.
• Compared hemodynamic results using original versus zero-pressure corrected carotid bifurcation geometries.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated significant changes in wall shear stress distribution due to zero-pressure state correction.
• Observed alterations in the spatiotemporal extent of recirculation regions within the carotid bifurcation.
• Highlighted the importance of accurate geometric representation for hemodynamic analysis.

Conclusions:

• Recovering the zero-pressure state of arterial geometry is essential for precise hemodynamic simulations.
• The methodology provides a more accurate understanding of blood flow and wall interactions in carotid arteries.
• This approach enhances the reliability of computational fluid dynamics in cardiovascular research.