On a fluid–structure interaction problem for plaque growth

Abstract

We study a free-boundary fluid–structure interaction problem with growth, which arises from the plaque formation in blood vessels. The fluid is described by the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations, while the structure is considered as a viscoelastic incompressible neo-Hookean material. Moreover, the growth due to the biochemical process is taken into account. Applying the maximal regularity theory to a linearization of the equations, along with a deformation mapping, we prove the well-posedness of the full nonlinear problem via the contraction mapping principle.