Geometry and flow

Abstract

Arterial disease, in the form of atheromatous plaques, is found to occur preferentially in regions where arteries bend and in the vicinity of branches, as discussed in Chapter 1. The changes in vessel shape due to pathology clearly affect blood flow, but there is a mutual interaction between haemodynamics and vascular biology. For example the traction (i.e. the force per unit area) exerted by the flowing blood on the vascular conduit walls directly affects how the endothelial cells function. Admittedly we do not yet fully understand the mechanisms through which haemodynamics and vascular biology interact. Nevertheless since any internal flow is strongly affected by the geometry of its conduit, we are motivated to explore how this is manifested in arteries.