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The aim of this study is to elucidate the correlation between coronary artery branch angulation, local mechanical and haemodynamic forces at the vicinity of bifurcation. Using a coupled fluid-structure interaction (FSI) modelling approach, five idealized left coronary artery models with various angles ranging from 70° to 110° were developed to investigate the influence of branch angulations. In addition, one CT image-based model was reconstructed to further demonstrate the medical application potential of the proposed FSI coupling method. The results show that the angulation strongly alters its mechanical stress distribution, and the instantaneous wall shear stress distributions are substantially moderated by the arterial wall compliance. As high tensile stress is hypothesized to cause stenosis, the left circumflex side bifurcation shoulder is indicated to induce atherosclerotic changes with a high tendency for wide-angled models.

The study of cardiovascular models was presented in this paper based on medical image reconstruction and computational fluid dynamics. Our aim is to provide a reality platform for the purpose of flow analysis and virtual intervention outcome predication for vascular diseases. By connecting two porous mediums with transient permeability at the downstream of the carotid bifurcation branches, a downstream peripheral impedance model was developed, and the effect of the downstream vascular bed impedance can be taken into consideration. After verifying its accuracy with a healthy carotid bifurcation, this model was implemented in a diseased carotid bifurcation analysis. On the basis of time-averaged wall shear stress, oscillatory shear index, and the relative residence time, fractions of abnormal luminal surface were highlighted, and the atherosclerosis was assessed from a hemodynamic point of view. The effect of the atherosclerosis on the transient flow division between the two branches because of the existence of plaque was also analysed. This work demonstrated that the proposed downstream peripheral vascular impedance model can be used for computational modelling when the outlets boundary conditions are not available, and successfully presented the potential of using medical imaging and numerical simulation to provide existing clinical prerequisites for diagnosis and therapeutic treatment.

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