Boundary conditions at the outlets for numerical modeling of carotid artery hemodynamics

An individual approach to modeling the hemodynamics of the carotid arteries and of the Willis circle is required in cases where there is a question of the need for surgical treatment due to an atherosclerotic lesion or the occurrence of aneurysms. The development of a rigorous approach to the problem statement, including individual boundary conditions, vessel properties and personalized geometry, is an urgent scientific problem that this work is devoted to. In the study, the data of numerical modeling of the carotid artery hemodynamics were compared with the data obtained using an ultrasound. Geometric model of the carotid artery bifurcation was built in the SolidWorks CAD system based on ultrasound data, performed on the Mindray Resona 7 device. The device allowed getting velocity at the inlet of the vessel, the mechanical properties of the walls, "reference" values of the velocities in the internal and external carotid arteries, and the vector velocity field at different points in time. We considered 3 types of boundary conditions at the outlets of the vessels: zero pressure, pressure with delay, Windkessel type conditions. The results of the simulations were compared with the "reference" ones in order to determine the closest to the physiological behavior of the vessel.