As the heart beats, it creates fluctuation in blood pressure leading to a
pulse wave that propagates by displacing the arterial wall. These waves travel
through the arterial tree and carry information about the medium that they
propagate through as well as information of the geometry of the arterial tree.
Pulse wave velocity (PWV) can be used as a non-invasive diagnostic tool to
study the functioning of cardiovascular system. A stenosis in an artery can
dampen the pulse wave leading to changes in the propagating pulse. Hence, PWV
analysis can be performed to detect a stenosed region in arteries. This paper
presents a numerical study of pulse wave propagation in a stenosed artery by
means of two-way coupled fluid structure interaction (FSI). The computational
model was validated by the comparison of the simulated PWV results with
theoretical values for a healthy artery. Propagation of the pulse waves in the
stenosed artery was compared with healthy case using spatiotemporal maps of
wall displacements. The analysis for PWV showed significance differences
between the healthy and stenosed arteries including damping of propagating
waves and generation of high wall displacements downstream the stenosis caused
by flow instabilities. This approach can be used to develop patient-specific
models that are capable of predicting PWV signatures associated with stenosis
changes. The knowledge gained from these models may increase utility of this
approach for managing patients at risk of stenosis occurrence
