Analysis of flow and LDL concentration polarization in siphon of internal carotid artery: Non-Newtonian effects

Carotid siphon is known as one of the risky sites among the human intracranial arteries, which is prone to formation of atherosclerotic lesions. Indeed, scientists believe that accumulation of low density lipoprotein (LDL) inside the lumen is the major cause of atherosclerosis. To this aim, three types of internal carotid artery (ICA) siphon have been constructed to examine variations of hemodynamic parameters in different regions of the arteries. Providing real physiological conditions, blood considered as non-Newtonian fluid and real velocity and pressure waveforms have been employed as flow boundary conditions. Moreover, to have a better estimation of risky sites, the accumulation of LDL particles has been considered, which has been usually ignored in previous relevant studies. Governing equations have been discretized and solved via open source OpenFOAM software. A new solver has been built to meet essential parameters related to the flow and mass transfer phenomena. In contrast to the common belief regarding negligible effect of blood non-Newtonian behavior inside large arteries, current study suggests that the non-Newtonian blood behavior is notable, especially on the velocity field of the U-type model. In addition, it is concluded that neglecting non-Newtonian effects underestimates the LDL accumulation up to 3% in the U-type model at the inner side of both its bends. However, in the V and C type models, non-Newtonian effects become relatively small. Results also emphasize that the outer part of the second bend at the downstream is also at risk similar to the inner part of the carotid bends. Furthermore, from findings it can be implied that the risky sites strongly depend on the ICA shape since the extension of the risky sites are relatively larger for the V-type model, while the LDL concentrations are higher for the C-type model.