A critical comparison of different residence time measures in aneurysms

Flow stagnation and residence time (RT) are important features of diseased arterial flows that influence biochemical transport processes and thrombosis. RT calculation methods are classified into Eulerian and Lagrangian approaches where several measures have been proposed to quantify RT. Each of these methods has a different definition of RT, and it is not clear how they are related. In this study, image-based computational models of blood flow in an abdominal aortic aneurysm and a cerebral aneurysm were considered and RT was calculated using different methods. In the Lagrangian methods, discrete particle tracking of massless tracers was used to calculate particle residence time and mean exposure time. In the Eulerian methods, continuum transport models were used to quantify RT using Eulerian RT and virtual ink approaches. Point-wise RT and Eulerian indicator RT were also computed based on measures derived from velocity. A comparison of these methods is presented and the implications of each method are discussed. Our results highlight that most RT methods have a conceptually distinct definition of RT and therefore should be utilized depending on the specific application of interest.