Direct Numerical Simulations of the pulsatile flow in real patients' coronary arteries with bifurcations*

This study aims to predict the plaque growth along the arterial walls of coronary arteries. Real patient arterial geometry with volumetric plague composition is obtained using virtual histology-intravascular ultrasound (VH-IVUS) data. Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) are performed with our in-house CFD code that solves the Navier-stokes and continuity equations using a finite difference scheme coupled with a Runge-Kutta algorithm for the time integration. The flow physics at the bifurcation is studied and the assumption on Murray's hypothesis are tested for a wide range of cases, varying the dimensions of the two daughter branches and their angle. One of his main assumptions is that the pressure is considered to be equal at the outlets downstream of a bifurcation. In a realistic scenario, the pressure at the two ends of an artery bifurcation can be different based on the downstream organs. A correction to the model is proposed based on our numerical results. Results on Leukocyte adhesion are compared with patient data to assess the validity of our proposed model.