Clinical and engineering studies of carotid artery disease typically assume that the common carotid artery (CCA), proximal to the bifurcation, is relatively straight enough to assume fully-developed flow. However, a recent study from our group (Ford et al) showed the surprising presence, in vivo, of strongly skewed velocity profiles in mildly curved CCAs. In this thesis we aim to understand how CCA geometry affects velocity profile skewing. The left and right normal CCAs of 32 participants (62±13 yrs), randomly chosen from NIH’s VALIDATE study (N~450) were digitally segmented from aortic root to bifurcation. It was shown that each segmented CCA could be divided into nominal cervical and thoracic region and that each region could be approximated by planar circular arches. Subsequent CFD simulations of CCA parametric models suggested strong velocity profile skewing both at the inlet and outlet of cervical segment and the effect of various geometric parameters were investigated.

Clinical and engineering studies of carotid artery disease typically assume that the common carotid artery (CCA), proximal to the bifurcation, is relatively straight enough to assume fully-developed flow. However, a recent study from our group (Ford et al) showed the surprising presence, in vivo, of strongly skewed velocity profiles in mildly curved CCAs. In this thesis we aim to understand how CCA geometry affects velocity profile skewing. The left and right normal CCAs of 32 participants (62±13 yrs), randomly chosen from NIH’s VALIDATE study (N~450) were digitally segmented from aortic root to bifurcation. It was shown that each segmented CCA could be divided into nominal cervical and thoracic region and that each region could be approximated by planar circular arches. Subsequent CFD simulations of CCA parametric models suggested strong velocity profile skewing both at the inlet and outlet of cervical segment and the effect of various geometric parameters were investigated.