Alexandria Engineering Journal (Aug 2023)
Numerical investigation of the effect of changes in blood viscosity on parameters hemodynamic blood flow in the left coronary artery with consideration capturing fluid–solid interaction
Abstract
Cardiovascular diseases are unfortunately one of the leading causes of death in today's society. It is important to analyze blood flow in various parts of the circulatory system. The coronary artery is made up of four main arteries, and the left coronary artery is responsible for delivering blood to the heart muscle. This research utilizes computational fluid dynamics and finite element methods to investigate and analyze coronary vessels by studying changes in blood characteristics. The aim of this study is to analyze and model the flow of blood under different conditions of the coronary vessels, with a particular focus on the vessels on the left side. This is in response to changes in hematocrit, which can cause an increase or decrease in blood viscosity (μp) (N.s/m2). In general, by applying condition flexibility for the vessel, it is possible to reduce pressure distribution on the wall when compared to the rigid model. When considering changes in viscosity (μ) (kg/m. s), such as an increase from 0.0029 to 0.0067, this can lead to changes in the shear stress distribution (N/m2) on the wall. Specifically, this increase in blood viscosity (μp) (N.s/m2) causes maximum tension, resulting in the wall shear WSS (N/m2) rising from 60 to 154 Pascal's, which is a 140% increase. Based on the current data, it appears that there is a high flow pressure in the artery, resulting in maximum relative pressure values of 6300 and 6450 Pascal's for the rigid and flexible models, respectively, at the separating joint of the bifurcation.