Fluid–Structure Interaction Analysis in an Atherosclerosis Carotid Artery

In this numerical analysis, a model for atherosclerosis carotid artery bifurcation with an outsized artery stenosis condition is examined. The carotid artery is an essential part of the circulatory system that delivers blood to the human brain. The vascular disease in the carotid artery caused by the build-up of fatty particles that gather at microscopic injury sites within the artery is called atherosclerosis. This study aims to analyze the nonlinear dynamics of atherosclerosis carotid artery bifurcation as a tool to forecast the initiation of stroke and brain ischemia. This investigation includes a dynamic three-dimensional hyperelastic. Two-way coupled fluid–structure interaction (FSI) analysis of an atherosclerosis carotid artery bifurcation using finite element method. This numerical study is carried out by the coupled solver of ANSYS 19.1. The solver and the methodology used in this simulation are validated with benchmark numerical results. The validation results are in reasonable agreement with the present study. The parameters considered for the analysis are as follows: physiological blood pulsation, three layers of the artery wall, different hyperelastic nature of artery wall layers, viz. intima, media and adventitia, and non-Newtonian characteristics of blood flow. The results reveal that maximum wall shear stress occurs at the fibrous cap which can eventually get ruptured and block the carotid artery. Also, the location of maximum von Mises stress is identified as the bifurcation region. Von Mises stress can cause artery wall dissection. Current results signify the relevance of FSI in the diagnosis of atherosclerosis.