A Phenomenological Fluid–Structure Interaction Study of Plaque Rupture in Stenosed Bifurcated Elastic Arteries

Atherosclerosis is an accumulation of plaque, which can result in changes in blood flow in the vicinity, leading to severe heart attack. This paper presents a phenomenological fluid–structure interaction study of plaque rupture in stenosed bifurcated elastic arteries. We use the coupled monolithic Arbitrary Lagrange Euler (ALE) formulation for fluids and solids. We consider the Navier–Stokes equation to govern the non-Newton blood flow and linear elastic model for walls. We treat the interface as a continuum. We utilize the stable P2P1 finite element pair for velocity and pressure discretization in space. The nonlinear discretized algebraic system is tackled using the Newton method, with the Jacobian matrices approximated via a divided differences approach. The resulting linear systems are addressed using the direct solver MUltifrontal Massively Parallel Sparse direct Solver (MUMPS). We then determine the wall shear stress (WSS) for both minimum and maximum times, accounting for elastic walls. The study’s findings enhance our understanding of the mechanisms behind plaque rupture and aid in developing better diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.