Mathematical modeling and numerical simulation of atherosclerotic plaque progression based on fluid-structure interaction (Q2050581)

The authors present a mathematical model of atherosclerotic plaque growth, which involves both macroscopic cardiovascular processes and molecular and cellular events. To deal with the multiscale-in-space nature of the process of plaque growth, a fluid-structure interaction problem, arising between blood and the artery wall, was coupled to a set of PDEs (Partial Differential Equations) and an ODE (Ordinary Differential Equation) describing the evolution of solute concentrations. To manage the \textit{multiscale-in-space} nature of the involved processes, the authors propose a suitable numerical strategy based on the splitting and sequential solution of the coupled problem. Some numerical results are presented to show the effects of geometry, model parameters and coupling strategy on plaque growth.