Research Article
Numerical Simulation of Dispersed Particle-Blood Flow in
the Stenosed Coronary Arteries
Mongkol Kaewbumrung ,
1
Somsak Orankitjaroen ,
1,2
Pichit Boonkrong,
3
Buraskorn Nuntadilok ,
4
and Benchawan Wiwatanapataphee
5
1
Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10400, Tailand
2
Centre of Excellence in Mathematics, Commission of Higher Education (CHE), Bangkok 10400, Tailand
3
Department of Mathematics, College of Information and Communication Technology, Rangsit University,
Pathum Tani 12000, Tailand
4
Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, Maejo University, Chiang Mai 50290, Tailand
5
School of Electrical Engineering, Computing and Mathematical Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, WA 6845, Australia
Correspondence should be addressed to Somsak Orankitjaroen; somsak.ora@mahidol.ac.th
Received 14 March 2018; Revised 22 May 2018; Accepted 4 June 2018; Published 1 August 2018
Academic Editor: Peiguang Wang
Copyright © 2018 Mongkol Kaewbumrung et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
A mathematical model of dispersed bioparticle-blood fow through the stenosed coronary artery under the pulsatile boundary
conditions is proposed. Blood is assumed to be an incompressible non-Newtonian fuid and its fow is considered as turbulence
described by the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations. Bioparticles are assumed to be spherical shape with the same density
as blood, and their translation and rotational motions are governed by Newtonian equations. Impact of particle movement on
the blood velocity, the pressure distribution, and the wall shear stress distribution in three diferent severity degrees of stenosis
including 25%, 50%, and 75% are investigated through the numerical simulation using ANSYS 18.2. Increasing degree of stenosis
severity results in higher values of the pressure drop and wall shear stresses. Te higher level of bioparticle motion directly varies
with the pressure drop and wall shear stress. Te area of coronary artery with higher density of bioparticles also presents the higher
wall shear stress.
1. Introduction
Atherosclerosis is a disease narrowing a coronary artery due
to plaque buildup. Generally, there is no symptom until it
severely narrows the artery causing serious problems includ-
ing heart attack, stroke, or even death. Critical information
of blood fow in the stenotic coronary arteries is a principle
factor of the development and progression of atherosclerosis.
Figure 1 presents an angiogram of a critical proximal lef
anterior descending artery (LAD) in a patient with Wellens’
syndrome. Atherosclerosis is ofen associated with some
forms of abnormal blood fow in the blocked coronary
arteries. Dealing with the pathogenesis of coronary artery dis-
eases (CAD), various practical treatment of CAD including
drug delivery, stent replacement, and coronary artery bypass
grafing (CABG) have been developed through a number of
in vivo and in vitro experiments. Due to the high rate of stent
and graf failures, development of vascular drug delivery, one
of the key rubrics of targeted therapeutics and nanodevices,
becomes more and more important [1]. Recently, several
drug delivery approaches are undergoing clinical testing and
medical industry development.
Over decades, many researchers have carried out experi-
mental models and computational simulations to explore the
fow phenomena in the stenotic arteries in order to optimize
medical methods of treatment. Due to the difculty and
limitation in determining the critical fow conditions for
both in vivo and in vitro experiments, the exact mechanisms
involving these treatments are not well understood. Tus,
mathematical modelling and numerical simulation are cho-
sen to be a better alternative to analyze the problem. Complex
phenomena of blood fow in arteries subject to various
physiological conditions has been extensively analyzed using
various mathematical models [2–12]. Te fow phenomena
Hindawi
International Journal of Differential Equations
Volume 2018, Article ID 2593425, 16 pages
https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/2593425