Authors: J.A. Felgueiras, L.C. Sousa, C.C. António, E. Azevedo, C.F. Castro, S.I.S. Pinto

The study of the influence of the blood viscoelastic property in numerical simulations is still a challenge in the scientific community, mainly in patient-specific arteries with complex geometry. It is well-known from the literature that considering the viscoelastic property of blood is important in arteries with small calibre such as coronary arteries. However, as far as we know, it is not verified for arteries with medium calibre such as carotid arteries (≈ 8mm diameter). Thus, the novelty of the present work highlights the comparison of the hemodynamic descriptors when using the purely shear-thinning non-Newtonian model, Carreau model, and the viscoelastic non-Newtonian property of blood, multi-mode sPTTmodel, for the flow simulation in patient-specific carotid arteries. The differences are clearly notable in the bifurcation region with a 67% increase of the relative residence time when considering the viscoelastic model. Thus, it is evident that using the viscoelastic property of blood (sPTT model), so far the most realistic model, should be considered in arteries with large cross-sectional areas, such as carotid arteries.

J.A. Felgueiras¹ | L.C. Sousa^1,2 | C.C. António ^1,2| E. Azevedo ^3,4| C.F. Castro^1,2 | S.I.S. Pinto^1,2 (*)
1Engineering Faculty, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
2Institute of Science and Innovation in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (LAETA-INEGI), Porto, Portugal
3Department of Neurology, Centro Hospitalar Universitário São João, Porto, Portugal
4Department of Clinical Neurosciences and Mental Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Portugal