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A new open‐source solver for early detection of atherosclerosis based on hemodynamics and LDL transport simulation

Jorge Molina Orcid Logo, Daniel Obaid Orcid Logo, Adesola Ademiloye Orcid Logo

Engineering Reports

Swansea University Authors: Daniel Obaid Orcid Logo, Adesola Ademiloye Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1002/eng2.12955

Abstract

This article presents a new open-source solver within the OpenFOAM framework, to provide a cost-free alternative to commercial software for simulating blood flows and the transport of low-density lipoproteins (LDL) in arteries. The proposed algorithm utilizes the velocity field obtained from the hem...

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Published in: Engineering Reports
ISSN: 2577-8196 2577-8196
Published: Wiley 2024
Online Access: Check full text

URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa66728
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Abstract: This article presents a new open-source solver within the OpenFOAM framework, to provide a cost-free alternative to commercial software for simulating blood flows and the transport of low-density lipoproteins (LDL) in arteries. The proposed algorithm utilizes the velocity field obtained from the hemodynamics computation to solve an advection-diffusion equation governing a passive scalar variable, that represents the cholesterol concentration in blood. Moreover, two customized boundary conditions, namely periodic pulsatile inflow and LDL blood-to-wall transfer law, as well as a non-Newtonian viscosity model, are included in the code to achieve more realistic results. The solver is first validated by reproducing two benchmark tests, the classical lid-driven cavity experiment including heat transport, and a constricted tube simulating a stenosed artery. The results obtained were in good agreement with existing literature and experimental measurements, thus confirming the accuracy and robustness of the proposed open-source solver. Finally, hemodynamics and LDL transport are computed in two arteries, one of them obtained by segmentation from an anonymized clinical patient. Stress and LDL concentration at the vessel's wall are employed to calculate significant descriptors revealing dangerous areas where atherosclerotic plaques could emerge. In the studied cases, the main branch of the artery, and especially the vicinity of the bifurcation, seem to be candidates to develop the illness. This conclusion is in line with medical in-vivo studies evincing that bifurcations are an usual place where plaques grow.
Keywords: atherosclerosis, hemodynamics, LDL transport, numerical modeling, OpenFOAM, open-source
College: Faculty of Science and Engineering
Funders: This research was supported by the Grant #PID2020- 115778GB-I00 funded by CIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. A.S. Ademiloye expresses gratitude to the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM) for the Innovation Award.

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