A novel computational approach for modeling stent reconstruction of an aortic bifurcation

Stent reconstruction of the aorta-iliac bifurcation was studied using computational fluid dynamics. Stents were modeled using a novel method, whereby the stents were represented as porous media. Three-dimensional numerical simulations using FLUENT were performed to determine how stent orientation affects the fluid dynamics. Three cases were studied and compared for both iliacs unstented, one iliac stented, and both iliacs stented. The stents lowered wall shear stress along the stented artery walls as compared to the unstented aorta-iliac model. However, the stent presence elevated vorticity, both in magnitude and size of the region. Additional studies were conducted to determine the effects for stent mis-alignment, where one stent protruded more into the aorta. It was found that when the stents were misaligned, wall shear stress increased near the stent inlet for the stent further inserted into the iliac. The resulting flow phenomena were consistent with other numerical models and medical investigations of stent reconstruction.