Multiphase model to understand the apparition of atherosclerosis

Details

Supervisors

Legat, Vincent ; Lambrechts, Jonathan

Faculty

Ecole polytechnique de Louvain

Degree label

Master [120] : ingénieur civil mécanicien, à finalité spécialisée

Abstract

The preponderance of cardiovascular disease as the leading cause of death in the modern world has prompted the development of an accurate representation of blood flow. This is intended to provide a tool for understanding and preventing cardiovascular events. As atherosclerosis is the main pathological basis of cardiovascular events, this thesis aims to provide a first approach to understand its driving mechanisms and its development. The importance of blood platelet coagulation motivates the study of their effects on flow. A 2D Eulerian-Lagrangian representation of the blood flow as a diluted suspension of particles is proposed with an improved description of the interactions between the particles using the non-smooth contact dynamics method. Through the implementation of a cohesive force, particle aggregation effects are reproduced in thrombus development and in the case of a stenosed artery. This work highlights the role of cohesion in the atherosclerotic event landscape, and the importance of describing flow conditions on solid phase behavior.