One-Way Fluid–Structure Interaction Modeling of Blood Flow in Peripheral Arterial Disease

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) commonly occurs with atherosclerosis event in which the peripheral arterial walls become thickened and hardened due to the buildup of the plaque. The development and progression of PAD is directly linked to adverse blood hemodynamics and biomechanics. The evaluation of both parameters is crucial for better prediction of the atherosclerosis in PAD. Since the in vivo measurement is challenging, a significant progress using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling has been made toward the blood vessels. However, CFD is limited to a rigid blood vessel and does not account the wall compliant mechanical properties. Fluid–structure interaction (FSI) modeling has emerged as promising tools for the characterization of fluid interacting to flexible walls. The study aims to perform a preliminary one-way FSI model of a healthy peripheral artery to predict potential locations for atherosclerosis development. A non-linear hyperelastics material property was used to perform peripheral’s wall compliant characteristics, interacting with the mechanical forces produced by the blood in the fluid domain. An obvious low wall shear stress (WSS) area was predicted at the outer wall of the bifurcation, depicted by decreased flow velocity in the region. The fluid forces are concentrated at the bifurcation and contributed to the wall deformation in the region. The computational prediction was also briefly compared to a patient specific data, showing that stenosis occurs after the bifurcation, demonstrating a good agreement between the model and clinical observation.