Numerical Analysis of Atherosclerosis and Aneurysm in Carotid Bifurcations using Computational Fluid Dynamics

Atherosclerosis and Aneurysm are some of the conditions in patients suffering from vascular diseases. These vascular defects can cause severe damage to cardiovascular system (CVS), if not properly diagnosed. The advent of advanced numerical and computational techniques has enabled the researchers to accurately design and simulate the flow of blood through the complex flow systems. Current state of published research is mostly based on simplified modelling tools and qualitative analysis that is limited to macro level description of the flow field. There is a need to diagnose the flow structure at micro level in order to carry out hemodynamic analysis of such defects. Several cardiovascular models of a bifurcation in the carotid artery have been generated using Computational Fluid Dynamics based techniques in the present investigation. These models represent healthy and defective carotid bifurcations, where the defective bifurcations represent atherosclerotic and aneurysm conditions. It has been observed that the defects in the carotid bifurcation affect local Wall Shear Stress WSS) significantly. The magnitude of wall shear stress has been shown to be crucial in ulceration and plaque formation.