Comparison of Four Different Fluid Structure Interaction Models in a Human Coronary Artery

Beside pulsatile motion of vessel, there are two additional movements of coronary arteries. One is from the pulsatile momentum of coronary artery while dampened by the supporting soft tissues. Another movement is responsible by contracting myocardium throughout the cardiac cycle with part of epicardial artery tethered to myocardium. In this study, four different external boundary conditions of vessel wall with different degree of rigidity are adapted in fluid-structure interaction (FSI) simulation with realistic geometry re-constructed from left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery of a coronary angiogram. The results showed that degree of rigidity of the vessel markedly affects the magnitude of wall shear stress (WSS) and the length of recirculation flow in post stenotic regions, especially in the early diastole corresponding to the time of peak flow in coronary arteries.