Three-Dimensional Numerical Simulation of Blood Flow in Two Coronary Stents.

The aim of the present study is to carry out Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations in a realistic three dimensional geometry of two stent under physiological conditions. The two stent, similar to real coronary ones, are both made of 12 rings but are differing as far as the position of the struts is concerned. One type has parallel-connectors and the other transverse-ones. The artery is modeled as rigid cylinder and the fluid is assumed as incompressible Newtonian fluid in laminar flow with the average physical properties of blood. The commercial computational fluid dynamic code FLUENT is used with the mesh made of non-uniform tetrahedrons. The mesh independence is proved using the steady state results of the wall shear stress. The parameters correlated to neo-intimal hyperplasia, such as wall shear stress, magnitude of wall shear stress gradient, and oscillatory shear index, are investigated. Time variation of the parameters is investigated with the conclusion that the stent with parallel-connectors has a better fluid dynamic behavior.