Coupled fluid–structure interaction hemodynamics in a zero-pressure state corrected arterial geometry

Abstract Hemodynamic conditions in large arteries are significantly affected by the interaction of the pulsatile blood flow with the distensible arterial wall. A numerical procedure for solving the fluid–structure interaction problem encountered in cardiovascular flows is presented. We consider a patient-specific carotid bifurcation geometry, obtained from 3D reconstruction of in vivo acquired tomography images, which yields a geometrical representation of the artery corresponding to its pressurized state. To recover the geometry of the artery in its zero-pressure state which is required for a fluid–structure interaction simulation we utilize inverse finite elastostatics. Time-dependent flow simulations with in vivo measured inflow volume flow rate in the 3D undeformed artery are performed through the finite element method. The coupled-momentum method for fluid–structure interaction is adopted to incorporate the influence of wall compliance in the numerical computation of the time varying flow domain. To demonstrate the importance in recovering the zero-pressure state of the artery in hemodynamic simulations we compute the time varying flow field with compliant walls for the original and the zero-pressure state corrected geometric configurations of the carotid bifurcation. The most important resulting effects in the hemodynamic environment are evaluated. Our results show a significant change in the wall shear stress distribution and the spatiotemporal extent of the recirculation regions.