Analysis of hemodynamics and heat transfer of nanoparticle-injected atherosclerotic patient: Considering the drag force and slip between phases of different particle shapes and volume fractions

Intravascularly injected nanoparticles are significant for the diagnosis, therapy and monitoring of atherosclerosis. In this paper, a two-phase mixture technique is adopted to investigate the effects of the shape and volume fraction of injected nanoparticles on hemodynamics and heat transfer in diabetic and non-diabetic atherosclerotic patients to avoid serious damage to the plaque during transport. The realistic atherosclerotic artery is reconstructed from Computed Tomography (CT) scans, and combined with self-developed user-defined functions, the shape characteristics of injected nanoparticles are incorporated into the drag force and slip of the phase interaction for the first time. The effects of temperature, pressure, Nusselt number (Nu), wall shear stress (WSS) and slip are explored. The results signify that, when nanoparticles with different shapes are injected into atherosclerotic patients, the temperature, pressure drop and WSS of the patients containing the platelet-shaped nanoparticles are the highest, followed by those containing cylinder-, brick- and sphere-shaped nanoparticles, whereas this is reversed for the slip velocity and Nu. Atherosclerotic patients with diabetes exhibit higher temperature, pressure drop and WSS, as well as lower Nu and slip velocity, and are less susceptible to the shape characteristics and volume fraction of injected nanoparticles than those without diabetes; e.g., for every 1% increase in volume fraction, the decrease ratio of the slip velocity is 10.9% for diabetic patients, but 14.7% for non-diabetic patients. Results obtained can serve as a guideline to optimize the design and dose of injected nanoparticles for diabetic and non-diabetic atherosclerotic patients. •Two-phase mixture model is adopted to investigate the shape and volume fraction effects on hemodynamics and heat transfer.•The realistic atherosclerotic artery is reconstructed from Computed Tomography (CT) scans.•Combined with self-developed functions, the shape characteristics is first incorporated into the drag force and slip.•The order of temperature, pressure drop and WSS is platelet > cylinder > brick > sphere, whereas slip velocity is reversed.•Non-diabetic patients are more susceptible to the shape characteristics and volume fraction of nanoparticles.