Effects of pulsatile flow and straight length on low-density lipoprotein transport in a curved arterial wall

Abnormal accumulation of macromolecules such as low-density lipoproteins (LDLs) in the arterial wall causes narrowing and blockage of vessels, which leads to atherosclerosis. Effects of pulsatile nature of blood flows as well as the initial length on transport of the LDL species in the arterial boundary layer region are analyzed numerically in the present work. The set of governing equations consisting of continuity, Navier-Stokes, and species transport is solved using a projection method based on the second-order central difference discretization. The obtained results are in excellent agreement with the pertinent data. The computational results imply that the flow field and concentration distribution are time dependent but the variation of the filtration velocity can be ignored. The LDL concentration boundary layer thickness decreases in the outer part and increases in the inner part for both with or without straight length. Presence of initial straight length generates about 26% growth in the boundary layer thickness, although its effect on the LDL surface concentration (LSC) is negligible. The maximum LSC is related to the regions with minimum wall shear stress in the inner part of the curved artery, which have more potential for formation of atherosclerosis. A new numerical correlation between the LSC and boundary layer thickness is proposed and examined.