Three-Dimensional Numerical Investigation of Steady State and Physiologically Realistic Pulsatile Flow through the Left Coronary Curved Artery with Stenosis

摘要

Simulation of the behavior of stenosis arteries has received much attention as a research topic. Fluid mechanics of blood flow in the left coronary artery (LCA) with stenosis is studied using a mathematical analysis. Numerical simulations of blood flow in the left coronary artery with different stenosis percentages were performed. Both Newtonian and non-Newtonian models were considered for blood. The flow was assumed to be pulsatile and laminar. Stenotic human coronary artery geometries were given based on the images obtained from real patients (coronarography). The coupled governing equations, continuity and momentum were non-dimensionalized and solved. The effect of stenosis on various physiologically important flow variables during the cardiac cycle including pressure drop, impedance, velocity profile, and wall shear stress (WSS) was studied. It is found that all these flow parameters remarkably vary across a stenotic lesion. Also, an increase in the stenosis percentage leads to a considerable increase in their magnitudes.