Abstract & Overview
The paper describes a method for constructing a geometric model of the carotid artery and calculating the hemodynamic indices of a steady periodic blood flow in it. The model is based on the computer angiography data of a subject and the numerical calculation of blood flow performed by the methods of computer fluid dynamics. The hemodynamic indices on the vessel wall are obtained using the post-processing ofthe previously calculated data. The relevance of the problem is due to the fact that critical values of hemodynamic indices are the risk markers related to the manifestation of various pathologies, such as atherosclerosis and vascular thrombosis. The zones where values of indices exceed the critical values are localized using the calculated data. Calculations are performed using tetrahedral grids with different detail levels of the critical zones for several cardiac cycle periods. The issues under investigations are the grid independence in calculations of hemodynamic indices and the stabilization of periodic fluctuations of blood flow. The optimal options for grid details and number of pulse periods are found to provide acceptable accuracy and minimize the costs of calculations of hemodynamic indices.