Modeling atherosclerotic plaque progression in magnetothermal carotid artery flow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-2026

Abstract

Atherosclerotic plaque progression is driven by coupled hemodynamic and thermal-fluid mechanisms that remain incompletely understood. This study develops a transient multiphysics computational framework to model plaque growth in a patient-specific carotid bifurcation, capturing the interplay of non-Newtonian blood rheology, bio-heat transfer, and magneto hydrodynamic (MHD) effects with dynamic mesh adaptation. The model was validated against established studies on blood rheology, magnetic field effects, and pressure drop correlations, with numerical reliability ensured through Courant number analysis and grid- and time-step independence tests. Results show that thermal gradients reduce blood viscosity by up to 12 %, altering velocity symmetry, while wall heating modifies wall shear stress distribution by approximately 15 %. Transverse magnetic fields up to 10 T stabilize disturbed flows via Lorentz force damping, suppressing turbulence and enhancing laminarization. Overall, the proposed framework provides a robust and validated tool for investigating plaque progression under realistic physiological conditions, offering insights into hemodynamic, thermal, and MHD interactions, with broader implications for biomedical thermal management, magnetically assisted therapies, and advanced thermal-fluid modeling.

Keywords

Atherosclerosis, Stenosis, Dynamic meshing, Heat transfer, Lorentz force, Carotid artery

Publication Title

International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer

ISSN

0735-1933

DOI

10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2025.110392

Volume

172

Issue

3

First Page

110392

Publisher

Elsevier

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