Hemodynamic analysis of a curved artery based on microcirculation boundary.

BACKGROUND Microcirculation plays a key role in regulating blood flow but is not considered in previous research of hemodynamics. OBJECTIVE  A curved artery model is established to study its hemodynamic characteristics based on microcirculation boundary. METHODS The hemodynamic model of a curved artery is constructed and simulated by computational fluid dynamics. The curved artery model is simulated by fluid-structure interaction. At the same time, a porous medium is used to simulate microcirculation as the outlet boundary. RESULTS The distribution characteristics of the blood flow velocity, the pressure and the wall shear stress in different sections at different time of the cardiac cycle are obtained. The results show that the velocities in curved arteries decrease and the pressures gradually increase. The blood flow velocity waveform and value are affected and they are sensitive to the microcirculation boundary. However, the pressure value is only affected by the microcirculation function. CONCLUSIONS  This work is useful for researchers to deeply understand the hemodynamic characteristics of curved arteries. There is important clinical significance to analyze the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease considering microcirculation function and its coupling effect.